this is bbc news. humanistarian aid supplies entering gaza are looted as they arrived through the rafah crossing. the un says hungry people are helping themselves, making it almost impossible to distribute aid. the world health organization describes the emergency department of gaza's al shifa hospital as a "bloodbath" — after delivering crucial medical supplies. we saw children with open wounds on theirfaces. we saw a baby with jaundice. we saw many adults with injuries from what appeared to be blast injuries. the uk and germany issue a joint call for a "sustainable ceasefire" in gaza, but prime minister netanyahu insists israel will "fight to the end" to eliminate hamas. former conservative peer baroness mone admits she stands to benefit from £60 million of profit from personal protective equipment sold to the government

during the pandemic. i wasn't trying to pull the wool over anyone�*s eyes, and i regret, and i am sorry, for not saying straight out, yes i am involved. i will be representing the uk at the eurovision song contest! pop star and actor olly alexander is announced as the united kingdom's entry for next year's eurovision song contest. hello. we begin in gaza, where in a sign of the growing hunger and desperation there, aid trucks entering the strip have been mobbed and looted by crowds of people. vehicles carrying vital aid in through the rafah border crossing from egypt were boarded and stripped of their supplies.

the un says hungry people helping themselves to food is making it almost impossible to distribute aid. there are hopes more aid will start arriving each day, after israel opened the kerem shalom crossing into gaza for humanitarian aid trucks for the first time since the war started in october. until now, aid has only been able to reach the territory through the rafah crossing. israel stepped up its bombardment of gaza overnight and into sunday, reportedly killing at least a0 people. gaza's health ministry says almost 19,000 palestinians have now been killed since israel started bombing gaza in october. france's foreign minister has called for an immediate and durable ceasefire during a visit to israel. britain and germany have also issued a joint call for a "sustainable ceasefire" in a change of tone, days after abstaining from a un resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian truce. but israel's prime minister benjamin

netanyahu has strongly reiterated his opposition to a ceasefire. he insists his country will fight till the end to eliminate hamas — which many countries consider a terror group. meanwhile the funeral for one of the three hostages killed by israeli troops on friday has been held in israel. the idf say alon shamriz — along with the two other hostages — was "mistakenly identified as a threat" in the shejaiya district of gaza city — despite all three being shirtless and waving white flags. in a statement the idf expressed its deep remorse over the incident — which is now under investigation — and sent the families of those killed its condolences. live now to our security correspondent frank gardner, who's injerusalem. let's start with the ongoing pharmacy, we've obviously heard down from france and germany and the uk

as well, more indications that there is a growing shift to because for some sort of cease—fire. what is your take on that, and what are you hearing where you are?— your take on that, and what are you hearing where you are? there hasn't been an immediate _ hearing where you are? there hasn't been an immediate reaction - hearing where you are? there hasn't been an immediate reaction from . hearing where you are? there hasn't| been an immediate reaction from the israeli government but i don't think any of israel's allies who backed this country so forcefully on october seven in the aftermath of the horrific read by won, i don't think any of them envisioned when they did that that israel's military response would result in the deaths of nearly 19,000 people in gaza, it's an unacceptably high price to play, a high death toll, even for israel's staunch allies, the united states. we have seen a joint op—ed by david cameron and his german counterpart in the german newspaper,

they say they want a sustainable cease—fire leasing —— leading to sustainable peace. the french foreign minister has called for an immediate cease—fire. the reason why there is opposition are dragon on that, is because they haven't yet finished the job of reducing men or military capability. israel says if it's of no man or restock and regain an attack again like they did on october seven. the international pressure, i think is really building on israel because of the high levels of casualties, death and deprivation that this war in gaza is causing. irate that this war in gaza is causing. we have seen some of those images at the rafah crossing that this is causing, i want to talk about something coming about the idea of saying they have uncovered it tunnel neara saying they have uncovered it tunnel near a crossing. what can you tell

us about that, frank? it’s near a crossing. what can you tell us about that, frank?— us about that, frank? it's a big discovery _ us about that, frank? it's a big discovery in — us about that, frank? it's a big discovery in the _ us about that, frank? it's a big discovery in the sense - us about that, frank? it's a big discovery in the sense that - us about that, frank? it's a big - discovery in the sense that everyone knew there were tunnels under the gaza strip, but they have discovered the largest complex, they say, in terms of dimensions, release substantial, some of it as close as 400 metres from the air it's crossing, the official check point between the gaza strip and israel itself. some of these tunnels are so big and you can drive a really large vehicle in it. the point here that israel is saying is that this must�*ve cost millions of dollars. millions of dollars of aid money that was supposed to be spent on the benefit of the people of gaza, none of which changes the fact that israel is still occupying what is supposed to be a future palestinian state, and settlements continued to spread right across the west bank, which is supposed to be a future

palestinian sovereign country, but these tunnels are substantial entities misspent money. thank you, frank grabner— entities misspent money. thank you, frank grabner with _ entities misspent money. thank you, frank grabner with the _ entities misspent money. thank you, frank grabner with the latest - entities misspent money. thank you, frank grabner with the latest from i frank grabner with the latest from israel. israela oron, is a retired general who spent almost 30 years in the israel defense forces. she also served on the national security council under ehud barak and ariel sharon. she believes netanyahu's first responsibility is to tell the idf what there end game is. what does he want to become in gaza and the relationship between us and gaza, after the intensive phase of the war comes to an end? i think this is something that is not clear, not to the idf, and unfortunately, not to the rest of the world. right now we know what our prime minister doesn't want to do. he doesn't want the palestinian authority to take part in liberating gaza.

he doesn't want... this is implied, he doesn't want a palestinian state because he is saying that, if his opponent runs for office and is elected, he will agree to a palestinian state which is, in the eyes of our prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, a disaster. we know what he doesn't want. unfortunately we don't know what he does want, as a result of the fighting in gaza. israela, what he might say is that he has been quite clear. his aim is to eliminate hamas. i must say that i don't disagree with him on this point, because after october the 7th, we realised that the threat of hamas to destroy the state of israel, it is a very serious threat, not to mention the fact that the only targets of hamas,

and the goal, is to kill as many jews as they can. the idea of living side by side with hamas, right now, for the citizens of israel, including myself, is not a very cheerful idea. so hamas has to go. i mean the leaders of hamas, the military leaders and the political leaders of hamas, cannot stay there. a team from the world health organization who have visited al shifa hospital in north gaza have described the emergency department there as a "bloodbath". the who was able to deliver much needed medicines and surgical supplies to the hospital during a visit on saturday. it says only a handful of doctors and a few nurses are still working in what it's described as a "hospital in need of resuscitation". sean casey was part of that who team. he posted this video update from his visit.

it's completely overwhelmed with patients. very few staff remaining. as we've been here for the last 30 minutes, there's been a nonstop stream of injured people coming in on trolleys, on donkey carts, on stretchers being pushed down the road. there are almost no medical staff here. this largest referral hospital here in gaza has become a trauma stabilisation point. they can only provide the most basic care for people with very serious injuries and very serious illnesses. and sean casey, who you saw there, spoke to me earlier... he's the emergency medical teams coordinator at the world health organization, and has just returned from the al—shifa hospital in gaza. this was our first mission to al—shifa hospital in the last three weeks and we didn't know what we would find. we arrived and found a hospital that we weren't sure was functioning, that was completely overwhelmed with hundreds of patients, caregivers, thousands of people in the emergency area.

very few hospital staff, and we met with the hospital leadership and found that the staff had mostly left. many of them have been displaced, so a previously 750—bed hospital is operating with about ten or 11 of its normal staff. ten or 11 doctors and nurses and about 70 volunteers. patients were streaming in every 30 to 60 seconds, with fresh injuries, and there were patients everywhere, all over the floors, on stretchers, on gurneys. it was almost difficult to walk around without stepping on somebody because there were people covering the floor. it is a hospital that is reallyjust getting restarted after a period of closure and it has become a shelter. there are thousands of people sheltering on site, and it is trying desperately to resume services. but it has challenges with power, staffing and with supplies. it is providing only the most

minimal services at this point. sean, what sort of injuries and medical issues did most of the people that you saw have? we saw children with open wounds on theirfaces. we saw a baby with jaundice. we saw many adults with injuries, from what appeared to be blast injuries, open wounds, fractures. unfortunately the hospital has such limited staffing it is unable to provide care to a lot of those people, so even basic pain management is difficult, or impossible in many circumstances. we saw children holding iv fluid bags for their brothers and sisters and for their parents. we saw blood all over the floors. it looked almost like a battlefield hospital. it is just completely overwhelmed with a constant inflow of new patients, ambulances arriving constantly, people being brought in on donkey carts, on trolleys.

we even had people walking alongside our vehicles, pushing patients on stretchers. it was hard to imagine. what sort of conversations were the doctors and those nurses, who are treating the many, many injured at the hospital, having with you? they said they are overwhelmed. they said they need everything. we are constantly asked what the priorities are and it is a very challenging question, for a place like shifa, because they don't have fuel to run their generators, they don't have oxygen. they don't have medicines to care for the patients. they don't have staff to even clean wounds and provide basic pain management. they said that they need everything, and also, almost every single person who approached us asked us for food and water. there is a desperate need of everything. people are really hungry and thirsty. what the staff also said to us, which was really moving, is that they are committed to helping their people. they are going to stay, they want to reopen the hospital,

they want help to do it and that is why we went yesterday, to provide surgical supplies, some basic medicines, some external fixators for traumatic injuries, and we are going back in the coming days with fuel, with additional medical supplies, and hopefully with staff to help support them. another issue is that of the state of play with hostage negotiations — and the scope for further talks within efforts to curb the fighting and destruction. i'm nowjoined by fawaz gerges — professor of international relations at the london school of economics. thank you forjoining us here on the bbc. yesterday, we saw families of some of the hostages in mind that talks restart to negotiate a cease—fire, but we have seen my minister netanyahu said his military

campaign will continue. where do you see the way forward given we have now heard from france and germany and the uk, called in for a cease—fire in different forms but your mark i think you're asking multiple questions? it’s your mark i think you're asking multiple questions? it's seems that the pressure _ multiple questions? it's seems that the pressure on _ multiple questions? it's seems that the pressure on the _ multiple questions? it's seems that the pressure on the is _ multiple questions? it's seems that the pressure on the is really - multiple questions? it's seems that the pressure on the is really by - the pressure on the is really by minister, the pressure is overwhelming, because quite a few israeli hostages have been killed by friendly fire, and there have been protests in israel, as you know, so the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has reversed his previous position and has sent his mossad chief to speak to the qatari government to restart the talks with hamas about another round of exchange of hostages and prisoners. member, keep in mind, the main goal of the israeli war in gaza is to free the hostages stopped you have

about about more than 100 hostages still so far, and this strategy has failed so far. my take on it is, we might expect and see another round of exchanges between israel and hamas, is really hostages for in and prisoners, which might bring about a limited cease—fire and humanitarian pause. because hamas will not accept any exchange without a cease—fire. the second angle of your question is that it the second angle of your question is thatitis the second angle of your question is that it is now really world wired —— worldwide demand for a cease—fire. as you know, last week, 100 and 64 nations was it for a cease—fire, and you know have cracks in the western nations. you have the uk, france and germany, calling not only for it knows about cease—fire mum the

french foreign minister cause for an immediate cease—fire today. so it's notjust coming from the middle east and the global south, some of the closest allies of the united states and israel is saying enough is enough. and a critical point, this is the second point —— time that pope francis called the israeli war, he said is notjust a were a terrorism campaign, so when the pope, because to christians evidence working today and several injured by israel fire, whether this kind of global convergence of calls for a cease—fire would reducing because netanyahu will resist but there's pressure inside israel itself, the opposition leader appeared today and

call for his resignation. so, we have to wait and see but there are early signs of not only cracks within the israeli government would also western support for either a sustainable cease—fire or a immediate cease—fire. irate sustainable cease-fire or a immediate cease-fire. we haven't heard in the _ immediate cease-fire. we haven't heard in the last _ immediate cease-fire. we haven't heard in the last day _ immediate cease-fire. we haven't heard in the last day or— immediate cease-fire. we haven't heard in the last day or so - immediate cease-fire. we haven't heard in the last day or so from i immediate cease-fire. we haven'tl heard in the last day or so from the us, we had jake sullivan in the region not too long ago. what do you think is the us�*s likely next step in all of this? think is the us's likely next step in all of this?— think is the us's likely next step in all of this? �* .. , . in all of this? the american defence minister and — in all of this? the american defence minister and the _ in all of this? the american defence minister and the chief _ in all of this? the american defence minister and the chief of _ in all of this? the american defence minister and the chief of staff - minister and the chief of staff are on the way to israel, and also in if not to read the riot act it netanyahu but to impress on him that so many civilians, you have 20,000 palestinians killed, more than 50,000 injured, 1.9 million palestinians, 85% of the population,

basically displaced, so the americans are also coming under pressure from within the united states, within the government itself, and president biden is losing support in his party. my take is that the americans is trying to convince israel from shifting from all—out war in gaza to surgical strikes as opposed poster all—out war which is the palestinian population will stop we have to wait and see but there are multiple signs showing the pressure will likely produce a result, if not in the next few days but rute soon. benjamin netanyahu has not been able to convince the public and the world that he has been able to achieve any results. somehow the israeli army —— you spoke today about the israeli army some hope of finding it tunnel on the borders, is this really a major achievement?

on the borders, is this really a majorachievement? is on the borders, is this really a major achievement? is this what after two months that benjamin netanyahu was of the israeli people and the world community, not to mention that normal israeli hostage has been able to be rescued alive in the past few weeks or so.— has been able to be rescued alive in the past few weeks or so. thank you fawaz gerges. _ the past few weeks or so. thank you fawaz gerges, as _ the past few weeks or so. thank you fawaz gerges, as he _ the past few weeks or so. thank you fawaz gerges, as he was in - the past few weeks or so. thank you fawaz gerges, as he was in just - fawaz gerges, as he was injust there, the us defence secretary lloyd austen is travelling to israel ijy lloyd austen is travelling to israel by rain and qatar to highlight washington's commitment to strengthening security and regional stability. here in the uk, after years of denials, the former conservative peer, baroness mone has admitted that she stands to benefit from tens of millions of pounds of profit made from personal protective equipment, that was sold to the government during the coronavirus pandemic. the company was led by her husband, doug barrowman. she says she did help broker the deal, but claims she was made a scapegoat for the government's failings.

our political correspondent laura kuenssberg has more. questions about the pandemic, profit and politics have followed baroness mone and her husband to southern europe. for years, they denied links to a firm that received £200 million in taxpayers' money for desperately needed masks and gowns. only now the truth — that she does stand to gain. if one day, if, god forbid, my husband passes away before me, then i am a beneficiary as well as his children and my children. so, yes, of course. my family will benefit in due course. our family will benefit. that's what you do when you're in the privileged position of making money. a successful businesswoman and member of the lords, she didn't tell parliament she was helping broker a ppe contract. she now admits she didn't tell the truth when her links to the deal first emerged. you both denied it — why? we were simply listening

to our advisers. hindsight�*s a wonderful thing. i wasn't trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. and i regret and i'm sorry for not saying straight out, "yes, i am involved". my family have gone through hell with the media over my career and i didn't want another big hoo—ha in the press and my family to be involved in it. i don't honestly see there's a case to answer. i can't see what we've done wrong. doug and the consortium have simply delivered a contract — a delivery contract of goods. but after everything, you can't see what you've done wrong when you've admitted today that you lied to the press? that's not a crime. essentially, you lied to the public. laura, saying to the press that i'm not involved to protect my family, can ijust make this clear? it's not a crime. the company's being taken to court by the department of health.

the pairare under criminal investigation. but the government wouldn't comment on the couple who only now want to have their say. laura kuenssberg, bbc news. here in the uk we've been getting some political reaction to that interview. our political correspondent tony bonsignore has more. we have had comments from the deputy prime minister, oliver dowden. he appeared on the programme with laura kuenssberg. he wouldn't comment on that specific case. as laura said, there is a criminal investigation under way with the national crime agency, but also a civil claim from the department of health. he made some broader points. they included, he said, that he completely, and the government completely rejected any accusations of cronyism, said they had done their best in what was a very difficult and unique situation. he said that the government had been working very, very hard to try to claw back some of that money lost.

the government's intention in respect of that, was to make sure that, if legitimate claims came forward, we would process them quickly. there were no favours or special treatment. everyone had ultimately the same tests applied to them, and indeed, if it is the case where allegations of fraud and misconduct have occurred, there is either the civil or criminal, which you can see going on in respect of the interview you have just broadcast. in addition to that we set up the public sector fraud authority, already in its first year, has recovered double its initial target. labour have a very different take on this. they accuse the government of wasting billions of pounds of taxpayers' money. first, they say, through awarding these contracts in the first place, to companies who they say were only interested in making a quick profit. also, they say, through what they call a very casual approach to getting that money back.

here is the shadow secretary, wes streeting. i think the government's response has been appalling. and the extent to which they've been able to claw money back has been pathetic. and i think rishi sunak should take this personally and grip it. after all, it's his name on all of those cheques. he was the chancellor who was splashing the cash. labour say that if they do win the next general election next year, they will appoint a covid corruption commissioner to try to claw back as much money as possible, as quickly as possible. it's one of the world's biggest tv contests. we're talking the eurovision song contest. the united kingdom has revealed that the pop star and award winning actor olly alexander will represent the country at next year's contest in sweden. the surprise announcement was made during the final of the show strictly come dancing. i can exclusively reveal i will be representing the uk for the eurovision song contest.

cheering. lots of excitement there, we don't know what song he would be singing yet but there is more on the bbc news website, including an interview with him with our correspondent mark savage, stay with us for more of the days news, i will be back after a short break. hello there. good afternoon. well today's weather, pretty much a repeat performance of what we saw yesterday for many. but towards the south—east of england, there's a lot more blue sky and sunshine, such as here in canterbury, in kent. for dumfries and galloway, then we're seeing that heavy rain from north—west scotland just slip a little further southward. so turning really rather wet here for the rest of the afternoon. and we've still got this very mild feed of air coming in on a brisk

south—westerly wind, particularly blustery across north—east england, south—east scotland and also towards the irish sea coast. with this constant stream of rain just feeding into western areas of scotland and the rainfall totals will really start to rack up. we've already seen over 100 millimetres of rainfall in the highlands. we could see another 100 millimetres added on to that by the end of today. there's a met office amber weather warning in force too, valid until 6:00 this evening. again, we could see some landslips, possibly some transport disruption from a lot of heavy rain and that frontjust tends to slide its way further southwards into northern ireland, perhaps cumbria and lancashire by the end of the afternoon. it is a lot drier further east, windy conditions of course, and to the lea of the high ground there will be some sunny spells. it's staying very mild for the time of year and as we head through the evening and overnight again, our weather front just slips a little further southwards. it's starting to ease, but there will be some rain for a time over the welsh hills and over the midlands and northern england too. elsewhere it's largely dry. of course, it's a frost—free start to the day tomorrow, but it's now feeling a little cooler across northern areas of scotland.

and here we should see lots of dry weather through monday morning, but we'll start to see some more areas of rain just approach the far north and west by the time we get to the end of the day. meanwhile, weather fronts further south will bring some heavy rain across western wales and possibly into northern england as well. so the south—west of england, but some sunshine across northern ireland and eastern scotland. temperatures again still very mild, 11—13 degrees, well above the seasonal average. now, on tuesday, the focus for the heavy rain is going to be across england and wales, particularly towards the south. this heavy rain will take much of the day to clear, notice more of a north—westerly wind and some showers just feeding into the north—west of scotland, too. some of those showers could turn out to be wintry, perhaps particularly over the hills. here's the outlook for some of our cities as we head through the rest of the week. colder in the north. still mild in the south. bye— bye!

live from london. this is bbc news. humanistarian aid supplies entering gaza are looted as they arrived through the rafah crossing. the un says hungry people are helping themselves, making it almost impossible to distribute aid. in a change of tone, the uk and germany havejointly called for a "sustainable ceasefire" in gaza. but prime minister benjamin netanyahu insists israel will "fight to the end" to eliminate hamas.

former conservative peer baroness mone admits she stands to benefit from millions of pounds of profit from protective equpment sold to the government during the covid—19 pandemic. pop star and actor olly alexander is announced as the united kingdom's entry for next year's eurovision song contest. hello. sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. hello from the bbc sport centre. arsenal returned to the top of the premier league — after a dominant and convincing win over brighton at the emirates, which lifted them above liverpool before the culmination of their ongoing match with manchester united, more on that in moment. the gunners took their time to get off the mark —

but eventually opened the scoring in the second half, thanks to a gabrieljesus header — and then kai havertz ran through to score, making the game safe — his fourth goal in his last 7 games. the win ensures arsenal bounce back from last weekend's loss to aston villa, brighton slip a place to ninth. incredible performance, i think it was a joy to watch from the start to the end, the way we did it again for this very good team, i think they should give themselves a lot of credit. he at half—time this growing didn't reflect that, we were really patient and we won the game. so arsenal are a point ahead of aston villa — who came back to beat brentford 2—1 in a fiery encounter, which saw each side reduced to 10 men. west ham bounced back to win with no troubles, 3—0 at home to wolves. while, in the big game of the weekend, liverpool are at home to manchester united. about to kick off, it's currently

goalless. an update to bring you on the luton town captain tom lockyer now. the defender collapsed in their game at bournemouth on saturday — suffering a cardiac arrest. the club confirmed he was responsive when taken off the field. and today said on social media, that he "remains in hospital" and that they "understand that supporters are concerned for him — and that there is widespread media interest in his condition". tom is still undergoing tests and scans, and is awaiting the results before the next steps for his recovery are determined. in italy — third placed ac milan beat monza 3—0 in the early game in serie a. fiorentina beat verona 1—0. and it finished 2—all between udinese and sassuolo. 5th placed roma and bologna kicked off about 30 minutes ago. and is currently goalless in that one there. nathan lyon has become just the 8th bowler to take 500 test wickets, with the spinner helping australia to a huge win over pakistan in the opening test in perth. lyon took two on the final day as pakistan were bowled out forjust 89, giving australia

a 360 run victory. the tourists are still waiting since 1995 to win a test in the country. next up is the boxing day test in melbourne. india cruised to an eight wicket win over south africa in the first one dayer in johannesburg. arshdeep singh took 5 wickets to restrict south africa to 116 all out — their lowest odi total at home. shreyas iyer and sai sud—har—san both made fifties as india eased home inside 17 overs. the second of three odis takes place in qu—berga on tuesday. and that's all the sport for now. back with more later on. and we will update you on those matches as well. thank you very much, gavin. we brought you an interview earlier with former conservative peer, baroness mone, who has admitted that she stands to benefit from tens of millions of pounds of profit made from personal protective equipment, that was sold to the government

during the coronavirus pandemic. the company was led by her husband, doug barrowman. baroness mone says she did help broker the deal, but claims she has been made a scapegoat for the government's failings. here is laura kuenssberg's exclusive interview with baroness mone and doug barrowman in full now. there was a call to arms forall lords, baronesses, mps, senior civil servants to help because they needed massive quantities of ppe. given the fact that i've got 25 years manufacturing experience, i looked at doug and i thought, "we can really, really help here." ijust know all the key players in the far east. and i made the call to michael gove. what did you say to him? ijust said, "we can help, and we want to help." he was like, "oh, my goodness, this is amazing." so we entered into discussions, ppe medpro, myself,

i led the consortium, i had two other partners. but you had vip access. you had a cabinet minister on speed dial you could phone up and say, "i think i can make this happen, can you put me in touch with the right people?" yeah, well, that's what we were asked to do. but what i think the public think is we're trying to keep it a secret that i was involved. everyone in dhse, nhs, the cabinet office, the government knew of my involvement. they asked us to both declare our interest. did you tell the house of lords authorities? i discussed that with the cabinet office and they said, "we just need you to put it in writing and declare your interest "with us, that's all." and mine as well. but the house of lords rules say that members have a clear duty to provide information which might reasonably be thought by others to influence their actions. because there is a question of perception here too. and in fact the rules also say that sometimes registration of a spouse or a partner's interests is also required.

as far as i was aware, if you are not a director, not a shareholder, not financially benefiting, then that is exactly what i did. if i was told by the cabinet office, "no, you actually need to do this," i would have done it straightaway. i am a business guy, so i think like an entrepreneur. i don't know the parliamentary rule book. they must have been satisfied in the end to have awarded the contracts. if they were not satisfied, they should never have awarded us the contracts. they should have said, "there is a perceived conflict here." but what is also clear is the parliamentary rules are clear that members of the house of lords or members of the house of commons, if they have a financial interest or a perceived conflict of interest, which you mentioned, doug, the responsibility is on them. it was on you to tell parliament. do you wish you had? if i knew i had to... the cabinet office advised me only to do this.

by your own admission, though, and for the reasons you set out, you say you wanted to help, but you used your contact with government ministers to help broker a commercial deal for a company that was to bring tens and tens of millions of pounds of profit... yeah. ..for your husband, for yourfamily, and you didn't tell the authorities in parliament. to a lot of our viewers watching, that might sound like you were trading on your title and not following the rules, not declaring it all. no, no, absolutely not. i was just acting the same way as every other baroness, lord, who also put names forwards. there was lots of us. and how much were you paid and how much of it was profit? so, the two contracts in total came to a value of £202 million. and medpro made a return on its investment of about, realistically, 30%. so, about £60 million? yeah, about that.

making a profit of £60 million during a national emergency, like a pandemic? sounds notjust like an enormous amount of cash, but also a bit like profiteering. well, ppe prices during the pandemic went up five times and a lot of our competitors were charging, as i said before, on the gowns front, between £7 and £12 a gown. at the very start of the pandemic, the government paid, actually, numbers way in excess of that. we cut out most of the middle people and we dealt direct with the manufacturer. so, you say you saved the government a lot of money, but you also made a lot of money? nothing wrong with making money, but that is what happened, right? we made a good return for the risk involved, and the risk was considerable. but when it became public that you were connected to the company, you both denied it.

why? i wasn't trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes and i regret and i'm sorry for not saying straight out, "yes, iam involved." because dhse, the nhs, the cabinet office, they all knew of my involvement, but i didn't want the press intrusion for my family. my family have gone through hell with the media over my career and i didn't want another big hoo—ha in the press. over a period of months, you said again and again that you had no connection and your lawyers even said to some journalists it would be defamatory, they would be libelling you if they told the truth. you know, thisjust wasn't a slip—up. yeah. you didn't tell the truth for months on end. i think if we were to say of anything that we have done, we've done a lot of good, but if we were to say anything we have done that we are sorry for, and that is not to, we should have told the press straight up, straightaway, nothing to hide. and again, i'm sorry for that.

but i wasn't trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. no—one. but that's exactly what you were trying to do. you had lawyers working for both of you telling people, telling the public that you had nothing to do with the company and saying it would have been a libel to suggest you were. yeah, it is something we regret doing and we listened to our advisers. what happened then to the money, the profit you have alluded to, around about £60 million? so, i led the consortium. at the end of the day, i am an isle of man resident, the money comes to the isle of man, that's fundamentally where i live, it goes on my tax return, and like all my sources of income that i have generated over many years, it goes into trust for the benefit of my family. was any of it used to buy a yacht?

no, no. used to buy a what, sorry? a yacht. a yacht? it's not my yacht, it's not my money. i don't have that money and my kids don't have that money and my children, my family have gone through so much pain because of the media, they have not got £29 million. this money from ppe medpro, as i understand it, went into two trusts. one of those trusts, the beneficiaries of that trust, where half of the profit went, are you and your children. yes. and doug's children too. for the benefit of all my family. i am his wife, so i am a beneficiary, as well as his children, as well as my children. you have said repeatedly you didn't financially benefit from this deal. except it is just a matter of time before you benefit. it is my income, it is taxed on my tax return, and actually, if i die, one day in the future, she is going to directly benefit. as a family, you are benefiting from those tens of millions

of pounds, whether it is today or in ten years, 20 years, 30 years, for most people watching this, you did a deal with the government to provide more than £200 million worth of ppe and your family has made tens of millions of pounds from it. no, my family hasn't, laura, made tens of millions of pounds. god forbid if my husband decides to divorce me after this show! not an option. and takes me out of his letter of wishes, i take my husband out of my will, if we, god forbid, get divorced, i don't benefit. it's my husband's money. it's his money. it's not my money, and it's not my children's money. michelle has no access to that money. discretion over that money. unless i wanted to give everything away to strangers or to charity or whatever,

she was always going to benefit, and my family will benefit in due course. her family benefit, my family benefit. that's what you do when you're in the privileged position of making money. we're not talking here about someone getting a christmas bonus and saying, "oh, i'm not going to give it "to my wife now, i'm going to put it in the bank and surprise her later "on with a lovely family holiday," or "i'm going "to hold that money back "because maybe one day we might be able to save a deposit for a kids flat further down the line." sure. you've both admitted today that you will, in time, benefit financially from that cash. yourfamily, as a unit, will benefit from that cash. why didn't you just be more straightforward about it? i am being straightforward about it now, laura. i'm saying to you that i didn't receive that cash. that cash is not my cash. that cash is my husband's cash. but do you admit... it'sjust like my mum and my dad going home with his wage packet on a friday night and giving it to my mum, so she's, you know, benefiting from that as well.

but that cash is not my cash, it's not my children's cash, as the press and the attacks keep going on. do you admit today that, with the way that you've currently got your finances set up, that one day you and your children will benefit from that money? because you right now are listed as the beneficiaries of that trust. if one day, if, god forbid, my husband passes away before me, then i am a beneficiary, as well as his children and my children. so, yes, of course. how would you describe the government's overall handling of trying to get ppe during that crisis, from what you saw? the reason why doug and i are sitting here is because we've been their scapegoats, and they have destroyed our lives for over two years because it suited them, the narrative suits them to attack us the way they have done.

and the pain that's caused on ourfamily, and over, i think the attacks, they go up all the time. over 700 threats, you know, "i'm going to throw acid over you," "i'm going to burn your house down." and the hatred, we've been absolutely vilified. yeah. and, you know, we've onlyjust... we've done that one thing, which was lie to the press, to say we weren't involved. no—one deserves this. so, doug, let's then take you to a time when, as far as you're concerned, contracts have happened, the deliveries have taken place. the department of health then gets in touch, says something's gone wrong. they try to claw back money. tell us what then happened. our view is we supplied everything

on time to specification and at competitive prices. we get to november 2022, and i attend this negotiation, as opposed to a mediation, and this individual asked me, would i pay more for the other matter to go away? i was speechless. i didn't quite understand what he meant by that, because the only other matter on the table was the nca investigation, which had commenced, as far as we were aware, in april 2022. i was absolutely gobsmacked. i'm clear in my mind what he was saying. he was asking me if i would pay more money for the nca investigation to be called off. that's an extraordinarily serious allegation to make. if that's what you believed was happening, why didn't you go to the police at that point?

if you believed a senior government official was trying to bribe you to make a criminal investigation go away, why didn't you report it to the police then? i take the advice of my legal team, and the legal team, at that point in time, suggested that we park that one for now. you've told us very candidly today, you led the consortium, you did the deal, and yet when you look up, at companies house, which is where everything is meant to be registered in a normal way, you're nowhere to be seen. in... in terms of my appointments, they're all handled by the people in my family office, that'sjust normal practice and has been that way forever. i think some of our viewers, though, might feel there's a bit of a pattern. you know, at the beginning of this, the rules of the lords say that your interests should be declared. you didn't, because you say the cabinet office told you not to. when it first emerged that you were behind ppe medpro, you didn't tell the truth about that.

doug, you led this consortium, you've made tens of millions of pounds out of it for your family, but your name's nowhere to be found on companies house when it comes to the business. and, michelle, you've said repeatedly you didn't benefit financially, except you've also admitted today that, in time, your families may well benefit from huge amounts of money. there's a pattern here of time and again trying to hide what really happened. i'm not here today to defend my record on why i am a private person and don't want anyone in the press to know of any business activity or anything i get engaged in. but, michelle, it does feel like the truth has had to be dragged out here. not really, laura... no? ..because the only thing i would say to you is the only error that i have made is to say to the press that i wasn't involved. but you repeatedly didn't tell the truth. whether it's the money, whether it's your involvement, whether it's whether you had to tell parliament. it's a smoke screen. that's why we're here today,

doing an interview... but do you see why people listening might feel that? that's why we're explaining to people. what do you hope that 2024 will bring for you, legally, for your reputations and for you personally? i don't honestly see there's a case to answer. i can't see what we've done wrong. doug and the consortium have simply delivered a contract, a delivery contract of goods. but after everything, you can't see what you've done wrong? when you've admitted today that you lied to the press... that's not a crime. ..and, by extension, you lied to the public? saying to the press i'm not involved to protect my family, can ijust make this clear?

it's not a crime. the press have got nothing to do with my family. i was protecting my family. and i think people will realise that, and the press attacks that i have gone through, since i walked into the house of lords... i was a very successful individual businesswoman, and since i walked into the house of lords, it's been a nightmare for my family. so, that's not a crime, to say to the press... ..to tell, you know, the press what i did. that's not a crime. doug barrowman, michelle mone, thank you so much for london trafalgar square is singing carols — in ukrainian. with tradition festive singing held there every december, this one is special with ukrainian refugesjoining. live now to my colleague olga malchevska in trafalgar square. so, we are here in trafalgar square in central london, and there are hundreds of people here lovely christmas songs, and of course

ukrainians here as well. several organisations who decided to help people think them for their support and introduce some songs in ukrainian because that is the thought here when ukrainians celebrate christmas at the same time with the uk, so these beautiful singers will be in ukrainian traditional clothes and they will sing to you in ukrainian.- traditional clothes and they will sing to you in ukrainian.

you can catch the festive spirit. we will try to speak to one of the ladies here because there is also a remarkable story behind this singing, next to me now is ukrainian women from occupied ukraine. how are you first of all and how is your family. are they safe? like many ukrainians we lost our — are they safe? like many ukrainians we lost our homes, _ are they safe? like many ukrainians we lost our homes, not _ are they safe? like many ukrainians we lost our homes, not everybody . are they safe? like many ukrainians we lost our homes, not everybody is spread _ we lost our homes, not everybody is spread around the country as well as other_ spread around the country as well as other countries as well, but more than _ other countries as well, but more than anything, i thank you made is the battle — than anything, i thank you made is the battle that has been happening for 400 _ the battle that has been happening for 400 years. russia has been trying _ for 400 years. russia has been trying to— for 400 years. russia has been trying to suppress our culture, and that is— trying to suppress our culture, and that is one — trying to suppress our culture, and that is one of the many reasons why we are _ that is one of the many reasons why we are here — that is one of the many reasons why we are here trying to share the joy, show_ we are here trying to share the joy, show how— we are here trying to share the joy, show how rich and vibrant and beautifui— show how rich and vibrant and beautiful our culture is because it's so— beautiful our culture is because it's so important especially now that we — it's so important especially now that we are not at home, we are in

the uk, _ that we are not at home, we are in the uk, which has become a new home for many, _ the uk, which has become a new home for many, but _ the uk, which has become a new home for many, but still, our heart will always be — for many, but still, our heart will always be with ukraine, understandably.- always be with ukraine, understandably. always be with ukraine, understandabl . ., ~ . understandably. thank you so much, and the story — understandably. thank you so much, and the story behind _ understandably. thank you so much, and the story behind carol _ understandably. thank you so much, and the story behind carol of - understandably. thank you so much, and the story behind carol of the - and the story behind carol of the bells, few people know that it was actually written by ukrainian composer who has managed to escape the soviet union regime and who managed to flee to the us where the song became viral, and other girls will sing it to us in ukraine how it was written originally. they sing

hello there. good afternoon. well today's weather, pretty much a repeat performance of what we saw yesterday for many. but towards the south—east of england, there's a lot more blue sky and sunshine, such as here in canterbury, in kent. for dumfries and galloway, then we're seeing that heavy rain from north—west scotland just slip a little further southward. so turning really rather wet here for the rest of the afternoon. and we've still got this very mild feed of air coming in on a brisk south—westerly wind, particularly blustery across north—east england, south—east scotland and also towards the irish sea coast. with this constant stream of rain just feeding into western areas of scotland and the rainfall totals will really start to rack up. we've already seen over 100 millimetres of rainfall in the highlands. we could see another 100 millimetres added on to that by the end of today. there's a met office amber weather warning in force too, valid until 6:00 this evening. again, we could see some landslips, possibly some transport disruption from a lot of heavy rain and that

frontjust tends to slide its way further southwards into northern ireland, perhaps cumbria and lancashire by the end of the afternoon. it is a lot drier further east, windy conditions of course, and to the lea of the high ground there will be some sunny spells. it's staying very mild for the time of year and as we head through the evening and overnight again, our weather front just slips a little further southwards. it's starting to ease, but there will be some rain for a time over the welsh hills and over the midlands and northern england too. elsewhere it's largely dry. of course, it's a frost—free start to the day tomorrow, but it's now feeling a little cooler across northern areas of scotland. and here we should see lots of dry weather through monday morning, but we'll start to see some more areas of rain just approach the far north and west by the time we get to the end of the day. meanwhile, weather fronts further south will bring some heavy rain across western wales and possibly into northern england as well. so the south—west of england, but some sunshine across northern ireland and eastern scotland. temperatures again still very mild, 11—13 degrees, well above the seasonal average. now, on tuesday, the focus for the heavy rain is going to be across england and wales,

particularly towards the south. this heavy rain will take much of the day to clear, notice more of a north—westerly wind and some showers just feeding into the north—west of scotland, too. some of those showers could turn out to be wintry, perhaps particularly over the hills. here's the outlook for some of our cities as we head through the rest of the week. colder in the north. still mild in the south. bye— bye!

live from london. this is bbc news hungry palestinians loot aid trucks entering gaza through the rafah crossing, as israel opens another crossing for aid. the world health organization describes the emergency department of gaza's al shifa hospital as a "bloodbath" — after delivering crucial medical supplies. we saw children with open wounds on theirfaces. we saw a baby with jaundice. we saw many adults with injuries from what appeared to be blast injuries. the uk and germany issue a joint call for a "sustainable ceasefire" in gaza, but prime minister netanyahu insists israel will "fight to the end" to eliminate hamas. former conservative peer baroness mone admits she stands to benefit from £60 million of profit from personal protective equipment sold to the government during the pandemic.

i wasn't trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes,