Momentum, the grassroots group set up by backers of Jeremy Corbyn, is to curb the influence of far-left groups in it.

It is understood Momentum is to bar non-Labour Party members from taking part in some of its meetings.
The move follows mounting criticism of Momentum from senior Labour figures who have accused it of planning a purge of Labour moderates.
Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson has called Momentum "a bit of a rabble" and has warned of an "entryist problem".
Under new rules, Momentum supporters who are not Labour Party members will not be allowed to vote or take part in meetings about the Labour Party.
The move is designed to restrict the influence of organisations like the Communist Party, Left Unity, the Socialist Workers Party, the Socialist Party and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.
The new rules are due to be finalised shortly, BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said.
The rules will still allow members of the groups - generally to the left of the Labour Party - to attend Momentum meetings on non-Labour Party issues, such as campaigning on Syria.
A Momentum source said: "This is to stop the Socialist Party doing stupid things but we're trying to be as open and pragmatic as possible."
Momentum has strongly divided opinion within the Labour Party - shadow chancellor John McDonnell has spoken at a number of their meetings.
Momentum says it was established to give a continued voice to the thousands of people who helped elect Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader after becoming registered supporters of the party, and to ensure Mr Corbyn's anti-austerity policy platform was maintained.
But critics have warned it risks becoming a "party within the party" and that some of its supporters are not members of Labour and do not share its values.
As well as calling it "ineffective" and "a bit of a rabble" last week, Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson said on Twitter on Monday "they have an entryist problem in a number of groups".
Caroline Flint, a former Labour cabinet minister, claimed in an interview with The Independent, that Momentum could "destroy" the Labour Party.
"They seem to be focused on interfering in the organisation of the Labour Party. That is exactly what far-left groups like Militant did in the 1980s. They act as a separate party operating within the Labour Party but with no real loyalty to the party."
But Ken Livingstone, who is a member of Momentum, and who is co-chair of Labour's defence policy review, said the group did vital campaigning work and was not a "nasty bit of work like the old Militant".
Momentum has come under fresh scrutiny in recent days amid claims MPs who voted to bomb so-called Islamic State in Syria have been subject to online intimidation - or threats to oust them as Labour candidates.
Members of the Socialist Party, a successor group to Militant, reportedly handed out a petition calling for the de-selection of Streatham MP Chuka Ummuna at a Momentum meeting in Lambeth last week and the party has led calls for Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy to be ousted by her local Labour Party.
Left Unity, which considered dissolving itself and joining the Labour Party after Mr Corbyn's election but opted instead to get involved with Momentum to support his leadership, "named and shamed" the 66 Labour "warmongers" who voted for bombing in Syria, calling for them to be de-selected.
Momentum has defended its right to lobby MPs but insisted it "strongly disapproves" of anyone engaging in threatening behaviour or de-selection threats.


US chemical giants Dow Chemical and DuPont have announced a plan to merge, in a deal valuing them at $130bn (£86bn).

The all-share deal will eventually lead to the merged company, initially to be called DowDuPont, being split in three.
The three companies would focus on agriculture, materials and speciality products.
If the merger is cleared by regulators, the new company will be owned equally by current Dow and DuPont shareholders.
The companies aim to achieve the split into three within two years of the completion of the merger.
They hope to save $3bn through cost-cutting during that period.
Potential tax savings were one reason for the complicated merger-before-breakup deal, analysts said.
James Sheehan, a SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst, said: "They need to merge first in order for the subsequent spin-offs to qualify as tax-free transactions in the United States."
At the same time, DuPont announced a cost-saving plan that will involve cutting about 10% of staff.
Andrew Liveris, chief executive of Dow, will be executive chairman of the new company, while DuPont boss Ed Breen will be the new chief executive.
"This transaction is a game-changer for our industry and reflects the culmination of a vision we have had for more than a decade to bring together these two powerful innovation and material science leaders," Mr Liveris said.
Shares in Dow Chemical closed down 2.8% in New York, while DuPont fell 5.5%.
Dow also said that it would assume full control of its joint venture with glassmaker Corning.


Some London authorities are having to rent their own ex-council homes from landlords who bought them under the Right to Buy scheme, a report claims.

Research by London Assembly member Tom Copley says 52,000 homes - 36% of those sold - were being let out by councils.
The homes are being rented at higher market rates, the report says.
The Labour politician said the system needed to be reformed but the government said the scheme helped to create more affordable homes.
Of the homes that are being let, a "substantial" number are being let to tenants who are now supported by housing benefit, according to the study.
Mr Copley has recommended that there should be mandatory covenants on all Right to Buy properties so they cannot be let through the private rented sector and that local authorities should retain an equity stake in any property sold.
He said the practice had "helped to fuel the increase in the housing benefit bill, heaped more pressure on local authority waiting lists and led to more Londoners being forced into the under-regulated private rented sector".
"This shows that Right to Buy currently represents incredibly poor value for money to taxpayers," Mr Copley said.
"Not only did they pay to build the home in the first place, they then subsidised the considerable discounts offered to tenants and then missed out on the rental income that would have covered the build costs.
"Now, we have the indignity of London boroughs renting back their former council homes at higher market rent levels, once again costing taxpayers through the nose."
According to the report, 36% of about 145,500 properties in London where the council still holds the freehold are to be put on the rental market.
Tower Hamlets has the highest proportion of such properties up for renting - 50.5%, Enfield comes second with 49.8%, followed by Kingston with 45.6%.
A statement from the Department for Communities and Local Government said: "Under our reinvigorated Right to Buy scheme, every additional home sold will be replaced by a new affordable home to rent.
"Of course, the original home may be sold on or rented out down the line, yet there is clear benefit as our scheme helps reduce social waiting lists and increases the overall housing stock both across London and across the country."
Under current rules, council tenants and housing association tenants who were in their home when it was transferred from council landlords have the right to buy their properties at a discount, after five years as a tenant.
The current maximum it can be reduced by is Â£100,000 in London.
The scheme was originally introduced in the 1980s, however, the government brought it back in 2012.â€¬


O2 customer data is being sold by criminals on the dark net, the Victoria Derbyshire programme has learned.

The data was almost certainly obtained by using usernames and passwords first stolen from gaming website XSplit three years ago to log onto O2 accounts.
When the login details matched, the hackers could access O2 customer data in a process known as "credential stuffing".
O2 says it has reported the case to police, and is helping the inquiry.
It is highly likely that this technique will have been used to log onto other companies' accounts too.
The data for sale included users' phone numbers, emails, passwords and dates of birth.
It was shown to the BBC by an ethical hacker, Mike Godfrey from Insinia Security, who found the information listed for sale on a dark net market. The dark net is a part of the internet that is only visible to people using specialist web browsers, and is often used for illegal activity.
BBC reporters purchased a small sample of customer details from the seller to investigate further and contacted O2. Together, the investigating teams believed it was the result of credential stuffing.
This is where a criminal uses a piece of software to repeatedly attempt to gain access to customers' accounts by using the login details it has obtained from elsewhere - in this case, a November 2013 attack on gaming website XSplit. When successful, a customer's details can be retrieved and sold.
Computer security expert Graham Cluley said that when customer details are stolen from a website "one of the first things the criminals will try to do is see if any stolen passwords might unlock other sites online - potentially spilling more secrets about us, and opening us up to fraud and identity theft".
All the O2 account holders whose details the BBC has seen have been informed, with many saying they had used the same login for other online accounts.
Hasnain Shaw, from Chester, was one of the people whose details we obtained. His data had already been used elsewhere to access more accounts.
"I was away from home when eBay contacted me to say there was some suspicious activity on my account. I checked and it looked like there were cars for sale on my account.
"Four weeks ago, I got a similar email from Gumtree. It looked like the same people had got access to that account because it was the same cars being advertised."
He said he had used the same email address and password for both these accounts and the one with O2, but has since changed them. Before this happened he had considered himself secure online and internet-savvy.
"I am considering using a password manager and two-step authentication, although nothing is foolproof," he added.
O2 said in a statement: "We have not suffered a data breach. Credential stuffing is a challenge for businesses and can result in many company's customer data being sold on the dark net.
"We have reported all the details passed to us about the seller to law enforcement and we continue to help with their investigations."
The Victoria Derbyshire programme is broadcast on weekdays from 09:00-11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.


The simple statistics for the NHS in London make stark reading and tell you why trying to sort it out and protect it for the future is both incredibly important and extremely challenging.

Every year in the capital:
They are big numbers that require big solutions, along with a big dose of political support. But change of that scale could be hard to deliver.
Ten years ago there was a plan to change the way the NHS worked in London, with greater focus put on primary care rather than hospitals.
Sound familiar?
Called "A Framework for Action", it was a plan that delivered some big changes in London with particular success in the new major trauma units and the new specialist stroke centres.
It also promised 100 new so called "polyclinics" to offer a range of services from new buildings.
But the strategy was ditched when the coalition government came to power in 2010.
David Cameron's government had its own plan, which promised a boost for local GP services and a move to more care out of hospital.
Today the arguments remain pretty much the same.
There is wide agreement more care needs to be delivered closer to home and more resources need to be funnelled to primary care and GPs.
Experts say a shift is needed to a proper National Health Service that keeps people well and away from a national illness service, that picks up the pieces when they become unwell.
But how do you get there? Change in the NHS is expensive and also politically difficult.
Moving or cutting services at hospitals for example is often deeply unpopular.
Promises made at elections can make you look opportunistic some years later.
This issue includes NHS funding, A&E delays, operation waiting times and social care.
Campaigners at Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield, north London, will remember David Cameron promising to keep their A&E open before the 2010 election. It is now closed.
Services across the capital are currently being reviewed under a process known as Sustainability and Transformation Plans, which assess how the NHS will look over the next five years.
There are five of these and all involve moving services around, while some involve the closure or downgrading of A&Es.
All involve plans to save millions in the way services are delivered while also spending millions on new buildings and different services.
All say that doing nothing is not an option. If the NHS continues to spend in the way it is and deliver services in the way it does now, it will face a funding shortfall of more than £4bn in London alone.
If re-arranging hospital services is a challenge, the one facing primary care is just as hard. Shifting the focus to getting patients treated by GPs means finding doctors to deliver that service.
A recent survey by the London-wide Local Medical Committees, showed 42% of practices had a GP or practice nurse vacancy, while 45% of practices had a GP who was planning to retire in the next three years.
In fact, NHS statistics show the city has the highest number of GPs over the age of 55.
"The situation is worse than I've ever seen it"
Willesden GP Dr Adrian Richardson knows the pressures only too well.
His practice nearly closed last year, as three of its partners left, either retiring or choosing to get out of general practice.
"It's sad the situation in this practice was that people felt that options were better outside the practice than in," he said.
"I stayed because I didn't feel it was right to leave 15,000 patients without a proper practice."
He blames increasing workloads and paperwork for the extra pressures.
"The situation is worse than I've ever seen it.
"If you ask me about 2016 it will go down as the worst year of my clinical life."
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All the parties are committing to recruiting more GPs and nurses but doing it quickly is not possible, given the length of time it takes to train them.
All the parties are promising more money for the NHS and social care. There are promises too of more money for new buildings and pledges to rebuild an ageing estate.
There are promises that may be viewed with some scepticism from those working in the NHS and certainly shared by the Nuffield Trust think tank which specialises in analysing health policy.
It said: "Promises of billions extra for the health service can sound like big sums ... unpicking the pledges from each of the manifestos reveals that the NHS looks set to face a further five years of austerity, whoever forms the next government.
"Whichever party forms the next government will have to face some tough decisions about the future shape of the health service, and how it can continue to meet the needs and expectations of its patients and staff."
Hard choices on the NHS lie ahead for whoever wins the election.
What's on offer from the party manifestos:
Labour:
Conservative:
Lib Dems:
Greens:
UKIP:


A Met Police firearms officer will face no charges over the shooting of a man who was killed in a botched attempt to free a prisoner, prosecutors said.

It comes after Jermaine Baker, 28, was killed by armed officers in London, in December 2015.
Mr Baker, who was with two men in a car near Wood Green Crown Court, had intended to help a man being held on remand escape from a prison van.
Firearms officers were deployed to disrupt the plan.
"The officers reasonably believed that the men in the car were dangerous individuals, who were armed and prepared to use their weapons to achieve their criminal purpose," a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesman said.
"Having taken account of all the evidence provided by the IPCC [Independent Police Complaints Commission], the CPS has concluded that there is not a realistic prospect of conviction."
"The prosecution could not prove to the required standard that [the officer] was being untruthful about his belief that Mr Baker was armed and reaching for a weapon to fire on the officers."
The CPS spokesman said the officer had fired one shot which hit and killed Mr Baker, from Tottenham.
"Following a thorough search it was found that Mr Baker was not armed," he continued.
"An imitation firearm was, however, recovered from a holdall in the rear foot well behind the driver's seat of the car."
The IPCC said it was aware of the CPS decision and was waiting from a response from the Met Police.
At the time, Mr Baker and his accomplices were attempted to spring from a prison van Izzet Eren, who was being held on remand at HMP Wormwood Scrubs accused of gun offences, as he was en-route to a hearing at the court.
During the subsequent trial of one of Mr Baker's accomplices, Eren Hasyer, jurors at Woolwich Crown Court were told the prisoner hatched the escape plot from his cell using a smuggled mobile phone.
Det Ch Supt Tom Manson, of the Met Police, said: "This was a bold, well planned and carefully thought out conspiracy that bears all the hallmarks of a professional crime."
Two other men, Nathan Mason and Gokay Sogucakli, had admitted being part of the escape plot before Hasyer's trial began.
Hasyer was found guilty in May last year, of aiding the attempt to free Eren from the prison van.


Fears about disruption to next year's World Cup have been raised after the key global football conference Soccerex was cancelled for disputed reasons.

Soccerex organisers said Rio de Janeiro's state government had called off next month's event due to concerns about "ongoing civil unrest" in Brazil.
However the government "strongly denied" that this was the reason, instead citing a funding dispute.
The Soccerex gathering was due to be held at Rio's Maracana stadium.
The England manager, Roy Hodgson, was among a number of high-profile figures who were planning to attend the event.
Rio's state government said Soccerex, run by a British company, had failed to raise sufficient private funds to cover the cost of the three-day conference, and that it was not prepared to put forward any public money to fill the gap.
"The state guarantees the security of multiple events, including New Year's Eve on Copacabana beach, carnival, and the World Cup," it said in a statement.
"The government of Rio de Janeiro encouraged the organisers to seek cultural and sports incentives [funding] and they failed to do so. Soccerex were advised to seek funding to host the event so that the state would not have to use public money."
The event would have been the last of four scheduled Soccerex conventions to be held in Rio.
The organisers said they would be taking legal action against the Rio authorities responsible.
"Preparations for the event at the Maracana Stadium were well advanced with content planned, speakers confirmed and partnerships in place," a statement said.
"To be summarily cancelled in such a cavalier fashion, having hosted 33 events over five continents is extremely frustrating but nevertheless it has happened and is in contravention of all of the contractual obligations of the Rio state government, who have been notified of our intention to instigate legal proceedings for substantial compensation."
Soccerex chief executive Duncan Revie called the cancellation "cruel" and said he wanted to apologise to "every business, football club, league, federation and media organisation affected by this news".
Despite the sudden cancellation, world football governing body Fifa said it did not suggest heightened security fears for the World Cup.
Fifa's marketing director, Thierry Weil, said: "We do not believe this will have any influence in any way or form on the organisation of the Fifa World Cup."
Brazil, one of the fast-growing Brics nations, has seen its growth rate fall far from the 7.5% recorded in 2010 and is now growing at just short of 3% a year.
That, and a sharp fall in the value of its currency, the real, has sparked a number of often violent anti-government protests this year.
Among the protesters' concerns are corruption in public life as well as spending on hosting the World Cup and Olympics.
People are also asking for more investment in public services, better public schools, hospitals and transportation.
These demonstrations affected the Confederations Cup in June, prompting fears about safety and security for next summer's World Cup finals.
Soccerex has been running for the last 18 years.
It brings together football federations and associations, major clubs, rights holders, leading brands, businessmen and others in the industry.
Next year it moves to Manchester in the UK, which has been the host of Soccerex Europe since 2010.


Seventeen-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer says he did not expect to reach the Australian Open semi-finals after a six-month injury lay-off.

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The four-time champion in Melbourne is making his competitive return after last playing at Wimbledon in July.
Federer beat Mischa Zverev 6-1 7-5 6-2 to set up Thursday's last-four match against fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka.
"Feeling as good as I am, playing as good as I am, that's a huge surprise to me," said the 35-year-old.
"If someone would have told me I'd play in the semis against Stan, never would I have called that one.
"For Stan, yes, but not for me. I honestly didn't even know a few days ago that he was in my section of the draw or I'm in his section."
Federer, who has not won a Grand Slam title since triumphing at Wimbledon in 2012, had been sidelined by a knee injury throughout the second half of last year and has slipped from third in the world to 17th.
He played in the non-ranking Hopman Cup in Perth earlier in January, but has come through 18 sets in Melbourne.
"I think winning back-to-back matches in best-of-five sets against quality, great players has surprised me most," he said.
"Really that's been for me the big question mark, if I could do that so early in my comeback.
"I felt I was always going to be dangerous on any given day in a match situation. But obviously as the tournament would progress, maybe I would fade away with energy, you know, that kind of stuff."
Federer holds an 18-3 winning record against Wawrinka, but the 31-year-old will go into the semi-final as the world number four and looking for a second consecutive Grand Slam title after last year's US Open success.
Federer has won their past two meetings, at the ATP World Tour Finals and in the US Open in 2015, but Wawrinka holds a Grand Slam win against his Davis Cup team-mate, coming in the quarter-finals of the French Open in the same year.
"Against Roger, it's always special because he's so good. He's the best player of all time," said the three-time Grand Slam winner.
"He has an answer for everything. But I managed to beat him in a Grand Slam, so we'll see.
"It's great to see him back at that level. Hopefully I can manage to play a great match."
All of Wawrinka's three Grand Slam titles have come since Federer won his last five years ago.
And Wawrinka's rise to becoming a consistent top-10 player did not come until he was aged 28, and after plenty of help from his fellow Swiss.
"I remember giving Stan a lot of advice on how he should play certain guys," said Federer.
"Then the day came where he didn't call me so much any more. He called me less and less.
"I also felt like I didn't tell him any more, because he created his knowledge, his base, had his team. Only from time to time would I give him advice if he asked me.
"Otherwise I was happy that he was able to let go and go on his own path."
British Davis Cup captain Leon Smith on BBC Radio 5 live
It's a great match because Wawrinka wants to stay back and bludgeon the ball with huge swings and power.
Federer's job, in the lively conditions, is to take time away from Wawrinka and not allow him to get into that rhythm. Federer has to come forward and test Wawrinka's passing shots a lot.
That's important because I don't think Stan's the best passer in the world. Roger will be able to come in a lot because Wawrinka does chip and block a lot of first-serve returns.
The way Federer is playing, even though he has missed six months of tennis, I think he's maybe the slight favourite from what I've seen.


Russian heptathlete Tatyana Chernova has been banned for two years for doping and stripped of two years' results - but keeps a gold medal she won by beating Britain's Jessica Ennis.

A sample taken from Chernova at the 2009 World Championships tested positive for a banned steroid.
The Russian anti-doping agency has banned her and annulled her records from 15 August 2009 to 14 August 2011.
Chernova, now 27, won world gold in Daegu, South Korea, on 30 August 2011.
Ennis, then the defending world champion, had to settle for silver.
However the following year Ennis - now Ennis-Hill - took Olympic gold in London, where Chernova finished third.
Chernova's two-year ban has been backdated to 22 June 2013.
Compatriot Yulia Zaripova, the Olympic women's 3,000m steeplechase champion, has been banned for two and a half years by the Russian anti-doping agency.
The ban has also been backdated, to July 2013, leaving her eligible for Rio 2016.
The 28-year-old's biological passport showed the use of a banned method for replicating high-altitude conditions.
Zaripova won gold at London 2012 with a personal best, but that result has been annulled and she could lose the medal.
The Russian missed the August 2013 World Championships in Moscow after injuring her leg in training, and then said she was taking a break to have a baby.
Last week, Russia's athletics head coach Valentin Maslakov resigned after a number of athletes from the country were found guilty of committing doping offences.
The World Anti-Doping Agency is investigating allegations of widespread doping and corruption in Russian athletics after claims were aired in a recent German television documentary, with a report due to be published by the end of the year.
The IAAF said last week it was concerned about the number of Russian doping cases in the sport.


Mark English has progressed to the 800m semi-finals at the World Championships as a fastest loser in the heats.

The Letterkenny athlete was fifth in his heat in 1:46.69 but did enough to make Sunday's semi-finals in Beijing.
English, who needs a top-two finish to qualify automatically for the final, said he was "delighted" to make his first global semi-final.
A back injury severely inhibited English during the early stages of his summer campaign.
The 22-year-old UCD runner finished out of the medals at the European Under-23 Championships in the early part of July.
However, he showed a return to form as he mixed it with several of the world's best when he took fourth at the London Anniversary Games with his time of 1:45.49 also a qualifying mark for next year's Olympics.
That time was .65 outside his personal best set in 2013.
"I knew if I got boxed in and was sitting any further back than fourth I'd leave myself too much work to do so I wanted to have no regrets," English added after his Beijing heat.
Irish 400m hurdles star Thomas Barr missed out on a place in the final after finishing fourth in his semi-final.
Waterford man Barr, 23, ran 48.71 on Sunday, an improvement on his 49.20 in Saturday's heats.


As parts of the UK face the first of the wet winter weather, the National Trust wants action to manage threats to our storm-battered coastline.

In a new report, the Trust says the UK is "ignoring known risks of flood and erosion at the coast".
In England, just one in three coastal local authorities has long-term, informed plans in place, it claims.
The Trust cites examples of adaptive "soft engineering" and innovation, such as creating flood banks and reed beds.
It even encourages the design and use of moveable buildings close to particularly vulnerable, quickly-eroding areas of the coast.
The main thrust of its report is a call to adapt to the diverse challenges at different coastal locations.
Storm Abigail: Scotland prepares for high winds and rain
Approaches like this should happen instead of continuing a tradition of building sea defences, which have perpetuated "a cycle of construct, fail and reconstruct", the Shifting Shores report says.
The National Trust is responsible for 700 miles of British coast and said: "As a nation we can no longer rely solely on building our way out of trouble."
The Environment Agency has previously estimated that 700 properties in England alone could be lost to coastal erosion by around 2030.
But building in at-risk areas has continued. In England in 2005 the number of buildings at medium to high risk from coastal change was 117,000 - by 2014 this had grown to 129,000.
Phil Dyke, coastal marine adviser at the National Trust, told BBC News that a lack of funding for local authorities had contributed to a situation whereby "there is no clear mechanism to help people whose properties are at risk".
"We should be thinking about adaptive responses," Mr Dyke told BBC News.
Reconstructing the coast
Andy Smith, chairman of the Local Government Association's coastal special interest group, said he welcomed the report, but he added that it was important "to look at the wider picture".
"Defence of the coast and adaptation to coastal change are equal partners and have to be looked at in every place subject to the place in question," he told BBC News.
Both the departments for environment and for local government have agreed spending cuts, but the National Trust urged the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to put funding in place.
A Defra spokesman said that over the next six years the government planned to invest Â£1bn "to manage coastal flooding and erosion, so we can better protect 15,000 homes".
But the LGA's Mr Smith pointed out that funding from government was "very focused on protecting property and building defences".
He said that to move "away from having a coast defence perspective", local authorities needed a wider remit to apply to this central fund for their long-term plans.
"We welcome a greater focus on this issue," he told BBC News.
"But local authorities are very strapped for cash and we need the resources to do this topic justice."
Mr Dyke added: "Action is now needed by all coastal stakeholders to manage the threats to our beautiful and diverse coast to prevent us drifting into a future where our coast is a rim of concrete."


A 140-year-old RNLI station in Dorset is to be replaced to accommodate a bigger lifeboat.

Swanage boathouse was built in 1875 but, in 2016, the station is due to take delivery of a new boat which is too big for the existing building.
The site also lacks changing facilities or a mechanical workshop.
Planning permission for the new Â£3.5m lifeboat station has been granted by Purbeck District Council and work is due to begin in the autumn.
Swanage RNLI's current all-weather Mersey class lifeboat 'Robert Charles Brown' is nearing the end of its operational life.
It will be replaced by a 25-knot, all-weather, Shannon-class lifeboat, which will be faster and easier to manoeuvre due to its design and water jet propulsion technology.
Plans for the new station will include a changing and shower room, training room, mechanics workshop, office space, and a base for the station's D-class inshore lifeboat.
There will also be a souvenir stall in the boathouse.
Swanage RNLI lifeboat operations manager Neil Hardy said: "We're delighted that the plans have been approved and look forward to an exciting new stage in the long and rich history of lifesaving in Swanage.
"Although, naturally, we'll be sad to say goodbye to the current boathouse when the time comes, its time to look to the future and the modern and upgraded facilities the new building will provide for the volunteer crew."


A 20-year-old games designer has said it's "an insanely huge privilege" to be named a Bafta Breakthrough Brit.

William Pugh is the youngest of four people named from the gaming industry, with the others being 38, 29 and 39.
Now in its second year, Breakthrough Brits selects on and off-screen talent across games, film and TV to take part in a year-long mentoring programme.
The jury, including IT Crowd's Richard Ayoade and Broadchurch's Olivia Colman, selected a final list of 17 names.
The list is made up of two writers, four directors/producers, four game developers/designers, one composer, a presenter, two actresses and an actor.
Applicants had to be UK nationals and within their first year of starting their performing arts career to be legible for the award.
William, from West Yorkshire, already has three Bafta nominations to his name.
Earlier this year The Stanley Parable, a game which William co-created, was Bafta-nominated for Debut Game, Game Innovation and Story.
He said: "It's a very humbling and overwhelming experience to have this support behind me while I'm still in a formative space creatively.
"I suppose to simplify it all; with Bafta's support I'll be able to make things smarter and meet people faster!"
He added: "I've had the privilege and scariness of not going to university - [making] The Stanley Parable was my university - so I'm still finding my path."
Television presenter Ashley Kendall, 19, who is deaf, was the only name on the list younger than William.
She said it was "a huge privilege" to be officially recognised by the mainstream industry.
Ashley added: "It means I can show disabled people everywhere that they too can achieve their professional dreams."
Actress Stacy Martin and actor Callum Turner, both 24, complete the four Breakthrough Brits under the age of 25.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube


A string of bus services across the Scottish Borders could be cut by operators First Group.

If they go ahead, the proposed changes would be implemented by the middle of August.
It comes after the group announced plans to end services in East Lothian and close depots in North Berwick and Musselburgh.
Scottish Borders Council said it had only just seen details of the plans and it was too early to comment.
Bus services across the region would be affected by the changes.
The X95 between Hawick and Edinburgh, via Galashiels, would switch from a half-hourly to hourly timetable.
Services facing cancellation are:
A spokesperson for First Borders said: "We appreciate this will be unwelcome news for our customers, however our operations in the area have not been viable for a number of years.
"Despite working hard to turn the business around, insufficient passenger demand, the continuing challenging economy and strong competition in places have all contributed to the proposed withdrawal from East Lothian, which may also lead to the withdrawal of a number of services in the Borders.
"Our proposal is very much based on sustaining the wider business, including operations in other parts of the Borders.
"We have already met with SBC to discuss bus provision in the area and no decisions will be taken until we have completed a full and detailed consultation, including with our staff and the trade union."


A bakery firm, which has traded in north Wales for 130 years, is to close with the loss of dozens of jobs.

Castle Bakery, founded in 1885, will shut its six shops in Caernarfon, Bangor, Menai Bridge, Beaumaris and Holyhead on Saturday.
The family-run company was founded by William Roberts on his return to Anglesey after a period in the colony in Patagonia, Argentina.
The firm, which has its headquarters in Beaumaris, refused to comment.
Its website said it serves more than one million customers a year and previously baked for the Royal family.


Worcester Warriors chief executive Jim O'Toole will step down at the end of June, with Gus Mackay replacing him in a managing director's role.

O'Toole joined Worcester in 2015 having previously worked at London Irish.
Former cricketer Mackay, who begins his new job on Monday, was chief executive of rugby league club London Broncos.
"We welcome Gus to his new role at a very exciting time for the commercial side of the business," chairman Bill Bolsover told Warriors' website.
Mackay, 49, played three one-day international matches for his native Zimbabwe in 2001, and later moved into the administrative side while also working as a banker.
In 2006, he was appointed chief executive of Sussex CCC and two years later moved to Surrey CCC as managing director of cricket, before switching sports to join the Broncos between 2011 and 2014.
As managing director, Mackay will have responsibility for the business operations of the club, with responsibility for the rugby department remaining with director of rugby Gary Gold.
The departing O'Toole said: "This new structure makes sense for the business and I would like to thank our partners, staff and fans for their support during my tenure as chief executive."


New guidance on the curriculum in schools has been welcomed by Scotland's largest teachers' union, the EIS.

The statement - stressing the importance of numeracy and literacy - was issued by John Swinney on Monday. It was originally due to be published in time for the start of term.
The education secretary said it was designed to "reduce the burden of bureaucracy" on teachers.
The EIS said turning the "rhetoric into reality" was now the challenge.
The new statement will also provide practical advice for teachers on planning and assessment and is aimed at helping reduce teachers' workload.
It is not expected to have an immediate, direct effect on students, as it it will be up to councils, schools and teachers to work out just how to put much of it into practice.
Speaking at the launch of the new guidance at St Roch's Primary and Hearing Impaired School in Glasgow, Mr Swinney said he believed it would make a difference.
"In the short period in which I have been the education secretary, I have been taking measures to simplify and clarify the experience of teachers and reduce the burden of bureaucracy," he said.
"The guidance that we have issued today is designed to do that across the whole of Scottish education.
"I am now working with the assessment and qualifications group to reduce the burden of assessment in the senior sector as well. We are making good progress on those discussions and I will be in a position to set out some further thinking in the weeks to come."
EIS General Secretary Larry Flanagan welcomed the new guidance but said more had to be done to address excessive assessment workload for pupils and teachers and cut unnecessary bureaucracy.
He added:  "We have heard similar statements in the past and progress has often been slow. Turning rhetoric into reality remains the challenge; we need to see concrete change in our schools with clear results, sooner rather than later.
"In particular, the issue of excessive assessment in the senior phase of secondary remains to tackled by both the Scottish government and the SQA."
Mr Flanagan said classroom teachers also needed to be given more professional autonomy.
"The EIS will be issuing advice to members on how to use these latest publications effectively, in pursuit of our ambitions to declutter the curriculum, reduce the assessment burden and challenge needless paperwork."
In May, following the publication of disappointing figures on numeracy, Mr Swinney said that while Curriculum for Excellence was a success, the importance of the basics like numeracy and literacy mattered.
The statement reaffirms the two key priorities for Curriculum for Excellence are:
Along with the statement, benchmarks have been published to support learning, teaching and assessment in Literacy and English and Numeracy and Mathematics.
The government said this would streamline existing assessment guidance.
Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith said parents were seeing "lots of warm words" about improving Curriculum for Excellence but "no sign of improving educational standards across the board".
She added: "The SNP's failure to get to grips with our education system is yet another example of a government which has forgotten the day job because of its obsession with independence."
Iain Gray, Scottish Labour's education spokesman, welcomed measures to reduce teacher workload but said more was needed than "patronising platitudes".
He added: "The truth is that no warm words from John Swinney or guidance from Education Scotland can substitute for ending SNP cuts to education budgets, or replace the 4,200 teachers we have seen cut from schools.
"Until the SNP are prepared to use the powers of the parliament to provide enough funds to our schools, the pressure on teachers will continue."
Tavish Scott, of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said the guidance "doesn't tell teachers anything new".
"This was to be the acid test of reducing the paper chase of government guidance affecting teachers," he said. "Yet it appears to tell teachers what they already know."
"Teachers want clarity. Parents want teachers to teach. The Scottish government must redouble their efforts to achieve these objectives."
Ross Greer, the Scottish Greens' education spokesman, said: "Today's guidance is welcome. However, if Scottish ministers are serious about empowering teachers and reducing the attainment gap, they should take their own guidance on board and rethink their approach to national testing."


A man has been detained by police following reports of a someone behaving suspiciously in Fort William's public library.

The library was evacuated and the High Street cordoned off as part of the response to the incident.
It is understood that a plastic BB gun has been recovered.
Police Scotland said a 26-year-old man had been detained and that there had been "no threat to the wider public".


Fifa has admitted the corruption scandal is putting off new World Cup sponsors and plans to hold a summit with existing backers in August.

Secretary-general Jerome Valcke said: "The current situation doesn't help to finalise any new agreements."
Earlier, key sponsor Visa lambasted Fifa for a "lack of awareness" of the seriousness of corruption charges.
This week, Fifa said it would set up an 11-strong taskforce to examine the issue of corruption.
The August meeting was first suggested by major sponsors, Mr Valcke said.
"Clearly, there were a number of sponsors, mainly three, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Visa, who... sent a letter to Fifa, asking for information," he said.
"Two or three days ago we received a letter from all of them offering to meet together, so there will there will be a meeting next month."
Visa chief executive Charlie Scharf on Thursday expressed his concern over the situation, telling investors his payments company sought partnerships with those "who think and act like us".
He said it tried to hold the highest standards, but did not believe Fifa was living up to those.
Russia 2018 chief: Blatter is a victim
Visa has been one of the most critical of Fifa's top sponsors. Nevertheless, such public plain talking is rare.
Coca-Cola and McDonald's have also been vocal about their concerns.
Fifa's other key sponsors include Budweiser and Adidas.
Top Fifa officials were arrested earlier this year on charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering as part of a US prosecution that also indicted 14 people.
It sparked the resignation of its president, Sepp Blatter, who announced he intended to leave next year.
Mr Scharf expressed a lack of confidence in Fifa's ability to reform, saying "no meaningful reform can be achieved under the current leadership", although he stopped short of asking anyone to resign.
He is calling for an independent commission to be set up to plan for reform. Eleven days ago Coca-Cola also called for such a body to be set up.
Lobby groups backed Mr Scharf's comments.
Transparency International (TI), NewFIFANow and the International Trade Union Confederation all applauded Visa for its stance.
"Coca Cola and Visa have rightly recognised the depth of the corruption crisis facing Fifa," said TI's Neil Martinson.
Mr Scharf's full remarks are: "We view the stewardship of our company, our brand, and our clients with the utmost importance and try to hold ourselves to the highest standards.
"We seek to partner with those who think and act like us. I don't believe that Fifa is living up to these standards. Furthermore, their subsequent responses are wholly inadequate and continue to show its lack of awareness of the seriousness of the changes which are needed.
"To this end, we believe two things need to happen to ensure credible reform. First, an independent, third-party commission led by one or more impartial leaders is critical to formulate reforms. Second, we believe no meaningful reform can be made under Fifa's existing leadership.
"Football itself is a great sport with which we are proud to be associated. We want to be proud to be associated with Fifa and hope and look forward to working with them to that end."
Adidas - the German sportswear firm has been supplying the official match ball for all Fifa World Cup tournament matches since 1970. Also involved in all other Fifa events, such as the Confederations Cup Brazil 2013, and the Fifa U-20 World Cups for women and men.
Coca-Cola - the US soft drinks firm is one of the longest-standing corporate partners of Fifa, with a formal association since 1974 and an official sponsorship of the Fifa World Cup that began in 1978. Coca-Cola has had stadium advertising at every Fifa World Cup since 1950.
Gazprom - the Russian energy giant signed up with Fifa in 2013 as a partner for all competitions in the period of 2015 to 2018, including the 2018 Fifa World Cup, which is due to take place in Russia for the first time. (The firm is also an official partner of the Uefa Champions League 2012 to 2015).
Hyundai/Kia - the South Korean carmaker began its Fifa alliance in 1999, in a deal to sponsor 13 Fifa competitions including the 2002 World Cup. That agreement was extended to the 2006 event. It again backed the 2010 World Cup and is now the official automotive partner of Fifa until 2022.
Visa - the credit card company became a top-tier Fifa partner in 2007, taking over from rivals MasterCard in controversial circumstances, and recently extended its relationship until 2022.  It is a sponsor of five Fifa events this year, including the Women's World Cup in Canada.
Budweiser - the US beverage has been a World Cup sponsor since the 1986 event in Mexico, and is the official beer of the tournament, with its product on sale in all stadia at the finals. The brand also sponsors the man of the match award at each game.
McDonald's - the fast food chain has been a sponsor since the 1994 World Cup in the US. Its products are available at all matches in the finals tournament, and it also sponsors the World Cup player escort programme, in which children accompany the teams onto the pitch.


President Donald Trump has decided to delay moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, despite promising to do so during the election.

He renewed a waiver for a law requiring the relocation, as his predecessors have done every six months since 1995.
The White House said Mr Trump would fulfil his campaign pledge but wanted to maximise the chances of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
Palestinian leaders had warned the move would threaten a two-state solution.
Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since the 1967 Middle East war. It annexed the area in 1980 and sees it as its exclusive domain. Under international law the area is considered to be occupied territory.
Israel is determined that Jerusalem be its eternal, indivisible capital. But Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state.
Successive US administrations since 1948 have maintained that the status of Jerusalem is to be decided by negotiations and that they would not engage in actions that might be perceived as prejudging the outcome of those negotiations.
During last year's election campaign, Mr Trump expressed his strong support of Israel and vowed to order the relocation of the embassy on his first day in office.
But three weeks later, he acknowledged in an interview with an Israeli newspaper that it was "not an easy decision" and that he was still "studying" the issue.
Last month, the president avoided any public mention of a potential move during a visit to Israel and the West Bank, when he declared that he would "do everything" to help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace.
On Thursday, as a deadline loomed, the White House announced that Mr Trump had continued his predecessors' policy of signing a six-month waiver for the Jerusalem Embassy Act.
"President Trump made this decision to maximise the chances of successfully negotiating a deal between Israel and the Palestinians, fulfilling his solemn obligation to defend America's national security interests," a statement said.
"But, as he has repeatedly stated his intention to move the embassy, the question is not if that move happens, but only when."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office expressed its disappointment, but said it appreciated Mr Trump's "commitment to moving the embassy in the future".
"Israel's consistent position is that the American embassy, like the embassies of all countries with whom we have diplomatic relations, should be in Jerusalem, our eternal capital," a statement said.
"Maintaining embassies outside the capital drives peace further away by helping keep alive the Palestinian fantasy that the Jewish people and the Jewish state have no connection to Jerusalem."
The Palestinian ambassador to the US welcomed the decision.
"This is in line with the long-held US policy and the international consensus and it gives peace a chance," Hussam Zomlot said in a statement.
"We are ready to start the consultation process with the US administration. We are serious and genuine about achieving a just and lasting peace."


A report by Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin has warned that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has become a national security threat and should be removed.

He heads a "corrupt and dangerous" regime within Russia that operates according to its own rules, he added.
The Chechen strongman has rejected the report as "idle chatter".
Hours before its official presentation, Mr Kadyrov leaked a copy of the document on his social media accounts.
A former separatist militant, Ramzan Kadyrov was appointed to run the southern Russian republic of Chechnya by Vladimir Putin in the wake of two brutal wars there, and now portrays himself as the president's most devoted foot-soldier.
He sparked controversy recently by using social media to brand critics of the Kremlin as traitors.
Mr Yashin's 64-page report, which is collated from open sources, describes a region in which federal funds are diverted, federal laws flouted and critics harassed or even killed.
It also claims that the Chechen leader has accumulated what amounts to a personal guard of up to 30,000 men, officially interior ministry troops but deeply loyal to Mr Kadyrov personally.
The report calls for Mr Kadyrov to be questioned over alleged links to a number of high-profile murders including the shooting of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov a year ago this week. Mr Yashin is a leading member of the People's Freedom Party (Parnas), which was set up by Mr Nemtsov.
A group of men due to stand trial for Mr Nemtsov's murder have ties to men close to Ramzan Kadyrov, although the official investigation has made no such link.
There was tight security for the launch of the report in Moscow, but two protesters were able to enter the hall. One threw fake dollars at the podium, alluding to claims that opposition activists are paid by the West to work against Russia.
The building was then evacuated by police claiming a bomb threat. It was the second anonymous call in two days.


Plymouth Argyle forward Jake Jervis has triggered an extension to his contract to remain at the League Two club.

The 24-year-old made 50 appearances in 2015-16, more than enough to activate the clause in his contract.
Pilgrims boss Derek Adams has offered deals to 13 players, including captain Curtis Nelson, midfielder Carl McHugh and striker Reuben Reid.
Former Crawley player Josh Simpson, ex-Oxford striker Deane Smalley and Callum Hall have been released.
Jervis, Plymouth's top scorer this season, follows Gary Sawyer and Graham Carey in triggering new contracts.
Ryan Brunt, Peter Hartley, Luke McCormick, Kelvin Mellor and Gregg Wylde are among the others to be offered deals, while all five of the Devon side's loan players, including Crystal Palace youngster Hiram Boateng, have returned to their parent clubs following Argyle's play-off final defeat by AFC Wimbledon.


A Northern Ireland charity is helping more than 100 army veterans who have tried to take their own lives, a BBC documentary has been told.

'Losing the Battle' was broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster on Sunday.
It examined issues including post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide, and attempted suicide among army veterans.
The programme heard claims that increasing numbers of veterans were facing difficulties accessing help to deal with mental health problems.
Brett Savage, 28, who celebrated his 19th birthday in Afghanistan, said: "I didn't expect my life to be like this now. Never. You know I can't sleep and stuff. Stupid things remind me of things."
Alexander Gore described the changes he has faced since a homecoming parade in Belfast for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said it was "definitely a proud moment in my life" but that after it "things just started to go downhill with the post traumatic stress really".
"Now it is never going to go away, it is always going to be there and everybody is going to need help sooner or later with it," he added.
Aaron Nixon, now 25, said he had to pay for a private post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) assessment at a Belfast clinic this month.
He explained how he suffered a gunshot wound to his leg in Afghanistan.
"I lost five inches of my bone," he said.
"I had five years of limb reconstruction. About 30 surgeries."
While some of the veterans, from various conflicts at home and abroad, are actively seeking medical help themselves, others are turning to charities including the independent  Beyond The Battlefield which is based in Newtownards, County Down.
Speaking in the documentary, its chairman Robert McCartney outlined stark details about one six-month period at the centre.
He said: "These guys come back and they don't know what is wrong with them.
"They get into trouble with their families.
"They have lost everything, and the last attempt that they will do, is suicide.
"We have had 260 through here from April and I would say out of that 260, at least 50% have attempted some type of suicide."
Andy Allen, now an MLA at Stormont, lost both his legs after being injured by a Taliban improvised explosive device in 2008.
He now helps to run AA Veterans Support in north Belfast.
He said that after they started providing the counselling services, they saw an increase from reserve personnel, "as well as individuals that served in Afghanistan and other conflicts".
He added: "It's my belief and indeed 'AA Veterans Support' have pushed for it from day one, that we need a respite training centre here, dedicated to the needs of our service personnel, veterans and their families.
"A one stop shop that will be able to provide all of the services under the one roof."
The programme also detailed ongoing problems with the implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant in Northern Ireland.
Jonny Rollins, a retired army colonel who is now the local representative of the Confederation of British Service Charities, explained that a key part of the covenant cannot be implemented in Northern Ireland because local councils do not have the same powers as councils in other parts of the UK.
"The core of the Armed Forces Covenant to date has been a thing called the community covenant designed to be signed by local authorities who have levers over the provision of education, health and housing and local authorities here don't have that," he added.
'Losing the Battle' was broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster on Sunday but is available on the BBC iPlayer.


Team news for the weekend's Premier League games as Aston Villa travel to Manchester United on Saturday while Leicester host West Ham on Sunday.

Norwich City 0-3 Sunderland
Everton 1-1 Southampton
Manchester United 1-0 Aston Villa
Newcastle United 3-0 Swansea City
West Bromwich Albion 0-1 Watford
Chelsea v Manchester City
Bournemouth v Liverpool (13:30)
Leicester City v West Ham United (13:30)
Arsenal v Crystal Palace (16:00)


Chris Rushworth's five-wicket haul for Durham pegged Glamorgan back as they compiled a painstaking 221-7 on a slow opening day.

Nick Selman led the visitors' effort with a watchful century, his third of 2017, but Glamorgan could not accelerate.
Selman's 103 came off 252 balls and included 13 fours on a sluggish pitch.
But Rushworth's new-ball burst put Durham in charge on day one at Chester-le-Street.
The 30-year old paceman's 500th wicket for his county came in satisfying fashion as he uprooted Aneurin Donald's off-stump.
Selman, 20, reached three figures shortly afterwards but was then trapped leg-before by the persevering Rushworth, who followed up by dismissing David Lloyd the same way for his third wicket in the space of five overs as the innings fell away badly.
Durham seam bowler Chris Rushworth told BBC Newcastle:
"It was a long day with the heat which makes things feel a lot harder, but when you have a day as rewarding as that, you're happy with it.
"I didn't realise (the 500-wicket mark) but when I got off the pitch, I had a message from my dad, so it's a good feeling to put the team in a good wicket and leave us ahead.
"The key to how we've been successful here is to not let them go above three an over, the lads have done fantastically and to have 81 overs' worth of dot balls is a special effort."
Glamorgan batsman Nick Selman told BBC Wales Sport:
"It was a bit tricky out there against the new ball and they bowled well, they kept going, though we didn't go out to score that slowly.
"Salts (Andrew Salter) and me ground it out but it was disappointing to lose those wickets at the end, hopefully we can push to 280 or 300.
"I just need to get consistent, I look at (former Glamorgan captain) Steve James who used to average about 90 once he'd got to 20, so when I've got to 20, I work hard to make a big one."


Sony has developed a watch made from e-paper as part of an initiative to experiment with the use of the material for fashion products.

The Fes Watch has a minimalist, monochrome design but falls short of the features offered by smartwatches.
However, the battery of the e-paper watch could last far longer with an estimated 60 days of use.
The device has been described as "retro and cool" by gadget expert Stuart Miles from Pocket-lint.
"One of my predictions for next year is that fashion is going to play a huge part in shaping the tech industry.
"Having a phone that's big and square is one thing, but if we're actually wearing things, it has to look good."
The watch face and straps have an e-paper display - comparable to the technology used in e-book readers such as Amazon's Kindle.
It means the watch can alternate between several different styles of watch face and strap design.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Sony had deliberately kept the development of the watch low-key, opting to use a spin-off division called Fashion Entertainments to work on the device.
Fashion Entertainments ran a crowdfunding campaign to fund the watch's creation, the WSJ reported, in an attempt to gauge the public's interest in the concept.
It raised 3.5 million yen ($30,000; Â£19,000).
"We hid Sony's name because we wanted to test the real value of the product, whether there will be demand for our concept," a person involved in the project told the newspaper. A spokeswoman for Sony confirmed to the BBC that Fashion Entertainments is a division of company's New Business Creation Department, and was working on a number of e-paper prototypes.
Other e-paper experiments being worked on by Fashion Entertainments include shoes, bow-ties and glasses.
One drawback of using e-paper rather than, for example, liquid-crystal displays (LCD) is a limitation on possible features due to the limitations of what e-paper can display.
However, Mr Miles said he did not envision that being too significant a drawback for e-paper wearable technology.
"Look at traditional watches now, they just tell the time and we're happy with that," he said, noting that one of the most popular smartwatches on the market, the Pebble, uses e-paper.
Sony has not provided a date for the Fes Watch's release.
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC


Australian Richie Porte won stage four of the Criterium du Dauphine as Briton Chris Froome lost time on his rivals.

BMC rider Porte won the 23.5km time trial from La Tour-du-Pin to Bourgoin-Jallieuin in 28 minutes seven seconds, 12 seconds ahead of German Tony Martin.
Team Sky's Froome, the defending champion, was eighth, 37 seconds behind former team-mate Porte.
Belgian Thomas de Gendt, a further five seconds behind in ninth, leads Porte by 27 seconds in the overall standings.
Froome is aiming to win the Tour de France for a fourth time this summer, with each of his previous victories in 2013, 2015 and 2016 preceded by winning the Dauphine.
However, he admitted the time trial results "change the dynamic" of the race.
He said on the Team Sky website. "If I'd gained time then I could have ridden more defensively on the climbs. Now that I've got time to make up it means I can be more offensive.
"We've got three big days of climbing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That will be another big test to see exactly where everyone is at."
Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, riding for Movistar, was third on the stage to move up to third overall, 51 seconds behind De Gendt.
Spain's Alberto Contador was seventh, two seconds ahead of Froome, who trails De Gendt by 64 seconds in the general classification.
Frenchman Romain Bardet, runner-up to Froome in last year's Tour, lost almost two minutes.
Thursday's fifth stage features six categorised climbs, five of them coming in the opening 80km of the 175km race, but they are not expected to be tough enough to cause any huge changes in the overall standings.
1. Richie Porte (Aus/BMC Racing) 28mins 07secs
2. Tony Martin (Ger/Katusha) +12secs
3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +24secs
4. Stef Clement (Ned/LottoNL) +28secs
5. Chad Haga (US/Sunweb) +32secs
6. Jasha Suetterlin (Ger/Movistar) same time
7. Alberto Contador (Spa/Trek) +35secs
8. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) +37secs
9. Thomas de Gendt (Bel/Lotto) +42secs
10. Brent Bookwalter (US/BMC Racing) +45secs
1. Thomas de Gendt (Bel/Lotto) 13hrs 05mins 53secs
2. Richie Porte (Aus/BMC Racing) +27secs
3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +51secs
4. Stef Clement (Ned/LottoNL) +55secs
5. Alberto Contador (Spa/Trek) +1min 02secs
6. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) +1min 04secs
7. Brent Bookwalter (US/BMC Racing) +1min 12secs
8. Jesus Herrada (Spa/Movistar) +1min 15secs
9. Sam Oomen (Ned/Sunweb) +1min 17secs
10. Diego Ulissi (Ita/UAE Team Emirates) +1min 22secs


A cyclist who was seen kicking a 19-month-old girl in Edinburgh is being sought by police.

The incident happened on the cycle path near Leith Links on Saturday at about 16:30 when a passing cyclist deliberately kicked the little girl.
The toddler was walking with her father and both had moved out of the way to give the cyclist room.
The cyclist was white, in his mid 20s and of medium build. He was clean-shaven and had dark scruffy hair.
He also had dark circles under his eyes.
He was wearing dark jeans and a black hooded jacket, and was riding a silver mountain bike.
Officers are now urging witnesses to come forward.
Sgt Mark Wilson, of Police Scotland, said: "Thankfully the child was not seriously injured but this was still a distressing and inexplicable incident.
"We are keen to speak to anyone with information that can help us with our inquiries and assist us to trace this suspect."


The mother of a young man who was stabbed to death in west London has pleaded with judges to impose jail terms on anyone caught with a knife.

Donna Mayley told the BBC that existing sentences did not act as a deterrent.
Her son, Dean, 24, who suffered from learning difficulties, was murdered during a mugging in February last year.
It comes as latest crime figures show knife possession offences in England and Wales have risen to the highest level in three years.
More than 17,000 offences were recorded in 2014-15 while there were more than 13,000 stabbings and knife attacks in the year to June 2015, up 15% on the previous year.
Mrs Mayley said: "Nothing's going to deter these kids. They think it's normal, like having a wallet. It's just unbelievable that the courts just keep letting them get away with it."
She added: "The courts have got to change.... When it comes to knife crime they can't let them go.
"When they're stopped and caught with a knife they've got to be sent to prison. "
Dean Mayley was stabbed in the heart as he walked along Ruislip Road in Greenford, on 7 February 2014.
He was on his way to visit his uncle when he was attacked by four teenagers who confronted him in the street and stabbed him as they tried to rob him.
Jamal Jones, 17, from Acton, who wielded the knife, was convicted of murder and jailed for life, to serve a minimum of 15 years.
Michael Mensah, 18, Ryan Beresford, 19, and Miguel Leiba, also 17, were all jailed for manslaughter and attempted robbery.
Knife crime has resulted in the death of 15 teenagers in London since January, while last week a man was charged after stabbing a number of people at Leytonstone tube station.
The ONS said the rise in knife attacks represented "a real change in the downward trend seen in recent years".
In October, Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said rising recorded knife crime had led the force to increase the use of stop and search in the majority of London's 32 boroughs and had started to use powers allowing stops without reasonable suspicion.
In June he told the BBC: "Over the last three months there has been a rise in stabbings and that has caused us to review our position on stop and search???. If we are getting to the stage where people think they can carry knives with impunity, that can't be good for anyone."
But Home Secretary Theresa May has criticised the approach, saying there is no link between a rise in violence and a decline in the use of stop and search.


Scotland's only Conservative MP, David Mundell, has kept his job as secretary of state for Scotland.

Theresa May has been appointing her first cabinet after taking over from David Cameron who stepped down as prime minister on Wednesday.
Mr Mundell has been the MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale since 2005.
He was under-secretary of state for Scotland from 2010 to 2015 and became Scottish Secretary in May 2015.
Mr Mundell was reaffirmed in that post by Mrs May.
He said: "I am delighted to be reappointed as secretary of state for Scotland, and to have the opportunity to build on my work over the past year.
"The PM has made it clear we need to unite the country and work for the best interests of everyone in Britain.
"My focus now is to work with the Scottish government in order to get the best deal for Scotland and the United Kingdom as we leave the EU."
Mrs May has made big Cabinet changes including appointing Brexiter Boris Johnson to foreign secretary; Philip Hammond to chancellor and Amber Rudd to the Home Office.
Both Labour and the SNP said that the new Cabinet was worryingly right wing.
Nationalist MP Angus Robertson said: "There is serious cause for concern with a range of appointments - we are witnessing the creation of one of the most right-wing Cabinets in the modern era.
"From Boris Johnson as our Foreign Secretary - a man who will now be representing us on the world stage - to David Davis as Brexit Minister and Liam Fox for Trade, it will be Brexiteers who are taking forward UK foreign policy."
He added that although Mrs May spoke about social justice her "mask had already slipped" and the "reality is we are witnessing a sharp turn to the right in UK politics."
Scotland's only Labour MP Ian Murray said: "Despite Theresa May's rhetoric on the steps of Number 10 last night, this new Tory cabinet looks even more right wing than the one that we've just left behind.
"People across Scotland will not be fooled by new management at the top of the Tory Government.
"Their economic credibility lies in tatters after taking a gamble with Brexit and they have put the union at risk, not just as a result of this referendum."


A man who died in a crash in South Lanarkshire, which also left three others injured, has been named.

Aaron Lee, 19, from the Hamilton area, died after two cars crashed on the B7078 Carlisle Road at about 18:15 near Blackwood on Friday.
He was a passenger in a Seat Ibiza car. The 25-year-old male driver was taken to hospital where he was in a serious condition.
A five-year-old girl in the other car, is also in a serious condition.
That car, a Nissan Micra, was being driven by a 55-year-old man who is in a stable condition in hospital.
Police have appealed for witnesses to contact them.


A 17-year-old boy pulled from the sea after getting into difficulty in a dinghy has died.

Liam Hall, of Southwick, was in the water at the mouth of the River Wear, Sunderland, at about 15:20 BST on Tuesday when a rescue was launched.
He was taken to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary but died from his injuries, police said.
Three other teenagers rescued from a dinghy remain in a stable condition in hospital.
Click here for more on this story and other news from across the North East.


Tributes have been paid to two British soldiers shot dead in Afghanistan trying to rescue a wounded colleague.

Cpl Matthew James Stenton, from Wakefield, Yorkshire, and L/Cpl Stephen Daniel Monkhouse from Greenock in Inverclyde died in the Lashkar Gah district of Helmand on Wednesday.
They served in the Royal Dragoon Guards and 1st Battalion Scots Guards respectively.
Family members and comrades said their sacrifices "would never be forgotten".
Paying tribute to Cpl Stenton, 23, his family said: "A loving son, brother and grandson who will be dearly missed. Matthew always took life in his stride and never lost sight of the important things in life - his family and friends.
"Matthew died how he lived his life, surrounded by his friends. We are so proud of Matthew and it comes as no surprise to us to hear that he died whilst trying to help one of his fellow comrades."
L/Cpl Monkhouse's family said: "Although Stephen died in very tragic circumstances, it is comforting to know that he died doing a job he loved - being a soldier. He loved the Army and the Scots Guards.
"He died trying to help save another life, that sums Stephen up. He loved life and lived it to the full and his memory will live on with us and his friends forever. God bless you son."
Cpl Stenton, who joined the Army after leaving school, had completed two operational tours of Iraq.
Lt Col James Carr-Smith, Commanding Officer, The Royal Dragoon Guards, said he "loved soldiering" and "cared passionately for the soldiers under his command".
"It was typical of Cpl Matt Stenton that on the afternoon of Wednesday, 21 July 2010 he was yet again looking out for those more junior than himself.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. We will miss him hugely but his sacrifice will never be forgotten," he said in comments on the Ministry of Defence website.
Maj Denis James, Officer Commanding D (The Green Horse) Squadron, The Viking Group, said the soldier was an "uncomplicated man and the kindest of friends; he was also a hard, tenacious soldier who always fought for what he believed in".
"His sacrifice will inspire us forever," he added.
He leaves behind his father and stepmother, Michael and Gillian, and his sister, Charlotte.
L/Cpl Monkhouse, 28, joined the Army in 2003 and was deployed to Afghanistan at the beginning of July.
Lt Col Lincoln Jopp MC, Commanding Officer 1st Battalion Scots Guards said L/Cpl Monkhouse - known as Monkey - had made an "immediate impression" and "shone and excelled" when he moved up into the Pipes and Drums.
"He loved his drumming and only a week before he was killed, he proudly played here in Lashkar Gah for our colonel, His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent.
"He was always a proud father, son and brother, and a true friend to all.
"Monkey died coming to the aid of a guardsman who had been shot.  He did what every soldier hopes he will have the courage to do if the need arises: he laid down his life for his friend.  We salute him and we honour our fallen."
Pipe Major Brian Heriot, 1st Battalion Scots Guards, said L/Cpl Monkhouse was a "shining example of how with determination and ambition you can achieve your goals".
He was a father to Brandon, and an older brother to Allan, Ashleigh and Stacey.
A total of 324 UK service personnel have died in Afghanistan since 2001.


Kent needs a more effective system to warn of impending floods, a report by the county council has said.

More than 650 properties were flooded and over 28,000 left without power over Christmas, with Maidstone, Tonbridge and Yalding being the worst affected.
The document also calls for better overall communications and improved co-ordination between agencies.
The report is due to be discussed by the Conservative-run council's cabinet later.
The Blue Anchor Pub in St Mary's Platt, near Sevenoaks, was flooded and left without power.
Landlady Rose Gill said: "We were supposed to be having a special family Christmas because I was diagnosed with cancer in August...it could be my last Christmas.
"We did have them here, we sort of had a meal but no one enjoyed themselves because it was so cold.
"We were going across the road, cooking the meal over there and walking it back over here.
"It was like a trail of ants, backwards and forwards across the road."
Gavin Ritchie, from Yalding, and his family were rescued by a dinghy.
He said people needed information about when they should leave their homes.
"You have no idea and no one's telling us it's getting worse," he said.
"You're essentially left as a sitting duck with little or no time to actually save any possessions that you do have."
Mike Hill, cabinet member for community services, said: "Ten days or so it went on, and people were working unsustainably long hours.
"We'll at least look again at how we can bring in trained volunteers to supplement some of our work.
"That's one lesson I've taken away from it. The other was problems of communication, it was a particularly difficult time."


A cyclist accused of killing a woman by ploughing into her in a London street began shouting at her as she lay injured, a court has heard.

Charlie Alliston, of Trothy Road, Bermondsey, was 18 when he allegedly hit Kim Briggs as she crossed Old Street, east London, in February 2016.
The Old Bailey heard a witness saw the cyclist fly "through the air".
Mr Alliston, now 20, denies manslaughter and causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving.
In court, prosecutor Duncan Penny QC read a statement from eyewitness David Callan who said he was walking in Old Street at about 12:15 BST when he heard a male voice calling.
"It made me look up immediately, just in time to see a collision between a cyclist and a pedestrian," he said.
Mr Callan said the crash caused the cyclist to fly "through the air" while the pedestrian "fell at the point of impact".
"The cyclist clattered to the ground further down the road but quickly sprang to their feet and shouted something at the pedestrian... who lay on the ground," the court was told.
Mark Wyeth QC, defending, suggested his client had the right of way as the lights on the stretch of Old Street were green.
He added that Mrs Briggs could have avoided danger by using a pedestrian crossing less than 10 metres away.
Jurors heard the 44-year-old HR consultant suffered "non-survivable brain injuries" and died in hospital a week later.
They were previously told Mr Alliston was using a bike which which had no front brake so was not legal to use on the road.
The court has been told crash investigators had concluded Mr Alliston would have been able to stop and avoid the impact if the bike had been fitted with two brakes.
The trial continues.


Arsenal and Chelsea slipped to defeat on another night of Champions League embarrassment for the English elite - grim statistics lying around their feet like rubble, proof that the glory days are over.

The Premier League's finest have so far played six group games in Europe's biggest tournament and five have ended in defeat. Manchester City and Manchester United play their second games on Wednesday having both lost their first.
How the mighty have fallen. In 24 group games last season the Premier League's four representatives - substitute Liverpool for Manchester United - lost only six games.
And in the Champions League years between 2003-04 to 2011-12, the most English defeats in a Champions League group stage was five - a figure already equalled this season.
So where has it all gone wrong? And is this a sign of things to come?
From 2005 onwards, when Liverpool famously came from three goals down to beat AC Milan on penalties in Istanbul, the power of the Premier League cast a giant shadow over the Champions League - now the aura has been stripped away and those who once ruled are reduced to the ranks.
Arsenal were defeated finalists against Barcelona in Paris in 2006 and even though AC Milan got revenge on Liverpool in Athens the following year, Manchester United and Chelsea were also in the last four.
Manchester United won an all-Premier League final against Chelsea in Moscow in 2008, with Liverpool also semi-finalists, while both those finalists were in the semis again, along with Arsenal, in the following year before Sir Alex Ferguson's side lost to Barcelona in Rome.
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Slowly but surely, however, the Champions League has since been a tale of diminishing returns for the Premier League, overtaken not just by La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, but also Bayern Munich and more besides.
United reached the final in 2011, while Chelsea won the Champions League almost freakishly against Bayern in their own Allianz Arena a year later - but there was no Premier League presence in the last eight in 2013 and 2015, with only Chelsea reaching the semi-final in the intervening year.
Whereas once a meeting with Premier League clubs may have been daunting, it is now greeted with relish and not only the big names fancy their chances.
The current win rate of English clubs in the Champions League group games is a dismal 17% - this is the worst at the same stage for 20 years, when it was also 17% in 1995-96.
In the entire group stage in 2008-09, when the Premier League was represented by Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool and three English teams reached the last four, they suffered only two defeats in the entire group stage.
Arsenal have been unseated by unfancied Croatians Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos so far this season, while Chelsea have been beaten by FC Porto, Manchester United by PSV Eindhoven and Manchester City by Juventus.
None of those teams would figure in anyone's thinking as potential winners this season. Juve won at the Etihad and, while they were last season's finalists, they are struggling desperately in Serie A, sitting 15th with five points from six games.
Past reputations count for nothing. The Gunners may be most embarrassed of all. They are bottom of Group F and look in serious trouble before they have even faced their two toughest games against Bayern Munich.
Olympiakos arrived at Arsenal on the back of run of 12 straight losses in England and had never won a Champions League game on this soil. The record has now been set straight.
The Premier League can bill itself as the best in the world and boasted the richest summer transfer window in history in 2015, with outlay passing £870m - the total calendar year spending also soared past £1bn for the first time - but it seems this is very much a case of The Emperor's New Clothes for their European rivals.
So unpredictable that they cannot rest their best players for Europe - but then again, do Barca really rest players regularly?
One significant transfer deal that did not happen may hint at why life in the Champions League is getting tougher for those who want to exercise European as well as domestic domination.
When Chelsea set their sights on Everton's 21-year-old England defender John Stones, the assumption was that for all the defiance coming out of Goodison Park the deal would be done.
After much public rancour and three offers escalating to £30m and a willingness to go higher, Everton told Chelsea there were things money could not buy and Stones was one of them.
Chelsea did not get their way and defensive frailties were exposed once more in defeat by Porto - frailties manager Jose Mourinho wanted Stones to cure.
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Everton, however, were able to take a stand against Chelsea, emboldened by the fact they were bolstered against the need to sell for financial reasons because, in February, the Premier League sold TV rights to its games for £5.136bn - 71% above last time. The deal runs for three years from 2016.
It is no longer quite so easy for the bigger clubs to put the squeeze on their so-called lesser Premier League rivals to sell, while those clubs are now in a position to make ambitious moves of their own.
As an example, Stoke City paid a club record £12m to sign Inter Milan's Switzerland World Cup star Xherdan Shaqiri, while West Brom swept aside Tottenham's £22m offer for Saido Berahino.
The landscape is shifting. The Premier League may not be the best league in the world but it is arguably the most competitive - and this may take its toll when it comes to Champions League time.
The stats back up the argument. Chelsea were champions last season but only won four league games by three or more goals. Barcelona won 15 games by at least three goals as they won La Liga and Bayern Munich did so 11 times winning the Bundesliga.
The Premier League might be awash with cash but are they getting better? Can they attract world-class talent?
Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema etc were linked with moves to English clubs but none arrived. Kevin de Bruyne? Is he the nearest - and if so, what does that say? Do they have to settle for the top young talent rather than top proven talent? Almost second tier. Will those younger players end up at Real, like Ronaldo did?
Did Ronaldo's £80m move from Manchester United to Real Madrid days after their 2009 Champions League final loss to Barcelona signal the beginning of the end for the Premier League's great European era?
Since then it has been accepted that the greatest talent lies in Spain with Ronaldo at Real and Lionel Messi at Barcelona - while another true, albeit flawed, superstar left the Premier League when Luis Suarez left Liverpool to move to the Nou Camp for £75m in summer 2014.
Gareth Bale had already made the journey from Spurs to Real for a world record £85m in September 2013, while it is almost impossible to see a similar deal coming the other way.
So the Champions League has its superstars. The Premier League's problem is that not enough play for its clubs any more.
Chelsea prised Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona in 2014 but only after he had outlived his usefulness at the Nou Camp - similarly when Alexis Sanchez moved to Arsenal. Mesut Ozil signed for Arsenal in 2013 but again only when he was unwanted at Real.
Even when Manchester United paid £59.7m for the ill-fated Angel Di Maria after he had starred for Real when they won the 2014 Champions League final against neighbours Atletico Madrid, it was because it was decided within the Bernabeu that he was surplus to their needs.
Manchester United have been linked with Real Madrid's Ramos and Thomas Muller from Bayern Munich. They ended up with Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern, a fine player but a deal only done because the Germans felt his day with them was done.
Unless there is a freak of circumstance, it takes world-class players to win the Champions League - and more of those currently reside outside the Premier League.
Add the loss of that fear factor that now means even the lesser European lights face Premier League opposition with optimism and it means struggle.
So will it get any better for the Premier League clubs?
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal certainly thinks so. When asked if United can improve enough to win the Champions League by 2017, he said: "I hope so. That is realistic."
Bold words from a manager whose United record currently reads: played one group game, lost one group game.
There is little doubt United will still try to pursue the marquee stars that currently elude them to make that happen, while Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich still has the power to make the big deals when it tickles his fancy.
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Arsenal's performances in the Champions League in recent times offer no serious hope they will make a dent in the later stages - while realistically the best bet should be Manchester City.
City's Abu Dhabi-based owners have the finance and ambition to match any club in the world and it is clear they are intent on eventually winning the Champions League.
And yet, despite a multi-talented and hugely expensive squad, and perhaps because they are in a relatively early stage of their development, they have struggled to make an impact. They have not reached the last eight and too often look uncomfortable in their own Champions League skin.
Defeat by Juve at home does not augur well for this season, but the feeling remains that they must get better eventually.
For now, however, it seems the Premier League must be content with a place among the also-rans.
Very possibly. The Premier League is in danger of losing a fourth Champions League spot in the 2017-18 season if poor European performances continue.
New coefficient rankings, by which places are decided and calculated by performance over a five-year period, show England are third behind Spain and Germany but Italy are closing in.
The top three ranked countries get four Champions League places.
It increases the urgency for English clubs to get it right - but that grim record of five defeats in six group games so far does not send out an optimistic sign that things will get better as the Premier League's reputation in Europe takes more punishment.


Wall Street suffered its worst day this year as investors fretted about whether President Donald Trump will be able to deliver promised tax cuts.

Banks, which have helped to propel share markets to record highs recently, were among the worst casualties.
Bank of America fell 5.77% and Goldman Sachs lost 3.72%.
At the close, the Dow Jones was 1.14% off at 20,668.01 points and the S&P 500 lost 1.24% to 2,344.02. The Nasdaq fell 1.83% to 5,793.8.
For the S&P 500 it was the steepest one-day sell-off since before Mr Trump's election victory. The Russell 200 index of smaller companies also fell, closing down 2.7% and erasing its gains for the year.
Meanwhile, the CBOE Volatility index, Wall Street's so-called "fear gauge", jumped 10%.
Analysts attributed the share selling to reduced confidence that Mr Trump's pro-growth policies, including financial deregulation and tax cuts, would occur any time soon.
Investors saw the Trump administration's struggles to push through his healthcare legislation overhaul as a sign he may face setbacks delivering  the proposed corporate tax cuts.
"The market is starting to get a little fed up with the lack of progress in healthcare because everything else is being put on the back burner," said R.J. Grant, head of trading at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in New York.
Another sector that was hit was transportation. United Continental lost 3.3% and railroad operator CSX fell 2.7%. Hertz Global sank 8.7%.
Companies that make steel, chemicals, and other basic materials also slid. AK Steel plunged 10.4% and US Steel lost 9%.
The Dow had just two gainers, Coca-Cola and Chevron, up 0.76% and 0.35%.
US crude oil prices hit a one-week low of $47.23 a barrel as concerns about new supplies overshadowed the latest talk by Opec that it was looking to extend output cuts beyond June.
US shares had started the day higher, but soon followed a sell-off in Europe that saw the main markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt all close down.
Wall Street has fallen for four days in a row, although the previous losses were small.
Tuesday's losses were a reversal of the patterns that have endured since Mr Trump was elected in November, but share markets still remain sharply higher since then.
Kate Warne, an investment strategist for Edward Jones, said investors are taking some profits after the market's long post-election winning streak.
But she added that Wall Street is especially eager for the administration's tax reform proposals.


A court hearing as to whether a group of independence campaigners are able to camp outside the Scottish Parliament will take place on 24 March.

The parliament's corporate body is seeking permission to have the IndyCamp group removed.
A procedural hearing was held at the Court of Session to decide the next steps in the case.
Before setting the March court date, Lord Malcolm said the case "should be resolved sooner rather than later".
The campers aim to stay in place until Scotland is declared independent.
At a previous hearing in January, the group signalled its intention to fight the case under the name of "the sovereign and indigenous peoples of Scotland".
The campers have previously voiced hopes that their submissions could see the Act of Union dissolved, bringing about the end of the United Kingdom.
Arguments in the case will now be heard on 24 March - the date the Scottish government had penned as "independence day" if the "Yes" side had won the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
The corporate body of the parliament has insisted that the group did not have permission to camp on parliament land and is preventing other members of the public from using the space.
Updating MSPs, Scottish Parliament chief executive Sir Paul Grice said he welcomed the progress made in court.
He said: "As we have said consistently throughout this process, the corporate body's main aim is to protect and defend the rights of all those who wish to access and use parliament land responsibly.
"The corporate body regrets that it has been forced to take this action but given the protesters refusal to vacate the land or consider alternative options such as on-going daily protests, we were left with no choice."
BBC political reporter Philip Sim has been covering the case, to look back on the latest news, follow him on Twitter, @BBCPhilipSim


Banking giant HSBC has reported a 14% drop in profits for the first quarter following "extreme levels of volatility" in financial markets at the start of the year.

Profit before tax came in at $6.1bn (Â£4.17bn) for the three months to March, down from $7.1bn a year ago.
However, analysts had expected a far steeper fall in profits.
HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver said the bank had been "resilient in tough market conditions".
A conference call scheduled for later in the day could offer clues on possible further cost-cuts.
The lender had flagged earlier in the year that it would impose a global freeze on pay and hiring to cut costs by the end of 2017.
Independent banking analyst Frances Coppola said it was "likely there will be more job cuts" at HSBC following the fall in profits.
But she said the results "could have been worse" after financial markets were highly volatile in January and February.
HSBC's adjusted revenue for the first quarter amounted to $13.9bn, a 4% drop from the same time last year.
The bank also said the development of its Asian business was gaining momentum, "despite a challenging environment with key increases in market share in debt capital markets, China M&A and syndicated lending".
HSBC has had its headquarters in the UK since 1993, but the financial institution makes most of its money overseas, and Asia accounts for the majority of its profit.
The bank's shares are listed in London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong. HSBC shares in Hong Kong were down by 1.4% before the quarterly results were announced, but then recovered some ground to stand 0.3% lower.


Deliveroo has changed the contract for its couriers after receiving a drubbing from MPs over the so-called "gig economy's" treatment of workers.

The takeaway delivery business has removed a clause that banned couriers from challenging their self-employed status before an employment tribunal.
The clause was legally unenforceable.
However, the Labour MP Frank Field called it "egregious", adding: "It does seem a business model if you can get away with it."
In the new supplier agreement, Deliveroo specifies that freelance couriers can work for other businesses and do not have to wear Deliveroo-branded clothing.
The company has also shortened its contracts to four pages after the Work and Pensions Committee labelled those offered by Deliveroo and others such as Uber to be "unintelligible".
The gig economy - where people work on a job-by-job basis rather than being paid a salary and benefits - and zero-hours contracts have come under increasing scrutiny.
Most recently, Labour's draft manifesto spelled out how it wanted to move the "burden of proof" in the gig economy so that the law assumes a worker is an employee unless that person states otherwise.
Dan Warne, UK managing director at Deliveroo, said the new agreement "makes clear that our riders are able to log in to work with us whenever they want - allowing them to fit their work around their life rather than their life around their work".
He added: "'The flexible work we offer means that our riders are their own bosses - they can choose not to work if it doesn't fit in with their own schedule, wear whatever branding they want and work for multiple companies at the same time."


Two people in a learner driver's car had to be rescued by firefighters after it flipped on to its roof following a collision with another vehicle.

Mid and West Wales Fire Service said there were two casualties and two further "walking wounded" involved in the incident on Fabian Way in Swansea.
Police, firefighters and paramedics were called to the incident.
A British School of Motoring (BSM) spokesperson said they were looking into the incident involving their car.


Assistant coach Kenny Murray says there is a growing belief at Glasgow Warriors that they can retain the Pro12 title.

Seven straight wins have lifted the Warriors into third place in the table.
"We've put ourselves in a good position and the players are confident they can finish off well over the next three games," Murray told BBC Scotland.
"There is a great desire and passion among the guys to do well again this year. I'm confident that we can do it and go to another Pro12 final."
Glasgow lost in the semi-finals in 2013 before reaching the final 12 months later, and went one better last year by beating Munster in the final to be crowned champions.
The Warriors are two points behind leaders Leinster and Connacht with three games remaining - away to Scarlets, home to Zebre, and away to Connacht in the final round on 7 May.
The top four enter the end-of-season play-off semi-finals, with the top two enjoying home advantage.
"We've managed to steadily climb our way back up the league and we've got ourselves back into the top four," said Murray.
"Our target is to get in the top four and then, from our performances, we might get in the top two.
"But we are in a good place and we're starting to play some really good rugby at the right time of the season."
Glasgow travel to Wales to face a Scarlets side sitting three points behind them in fourth and who will be looking to leapfrog their visitors with a victory.
"We've played them there already this season in Europe and we beat them 9-6, so we'll take a lot of confidence from that," said Murray.
"Our target is to win all three of those games and it depends on what happens in other games.
"Other teams in the top four all have hard games, so there could be a lot more ups and downs for all the teams.
"There are four good sides in the top four at the moment and, for us to put ourselves in a position where we win it, we have to be better than them."
Murray thinks the prospect of a final in Scotland, on Saturday, 28 May, should also provide motivation.
"What a great opportunity to go play at a Pro12 final at Murrayfield, but there's a lot of rugby to be played before then," he added.