presidential nomination after a massive win over nikki haley in south carolina. the former president won his primary opponent's home state by a 20—point margin, his fourth consecutive victory. the conservatives suspend mp lee anderson after he said that "islamists" had "got control" of the mayor of london. the deputy pm refused to be drawn on whether his comments were islamophobic. oppenheimer is the big winner at the screen actors guild awards. it takes the top prize of best cast, as well as best actor for cillian murphy. barbra streisand was presented with a lifetime achievement award.

that is why the prime minister took action, he gave lee anderson the opportunity to apologise. he did not take that opportunity. words matter. he did not choose his words correctly. having failed to apologise, the prime and instead took action and removed the whip which i think was the appropriate course of action. but do you agree that the remarks were islamophobic and anti—muslim? i don't believe that lee anderson said those remarks intending to the islamophobic. i listen to the comments of your previous contributor and the way in which she was concerned they would be interpreted, and for exactly that reason, the prime minister asked, and indeed the chief whip asked for that apology and one was not forthcoming and action has been taken. i think that is the appropriate step to take. i think what lee anderson

was more broadly expressing in his interview, as others have done, is a deep concern which, by the way, i also share, about the way in which politics is being conducted and what has happened over the past week. i never thought in my lifetime as a politician that i would see a situation where what was happening in the house of commons was influenced by the threat of violence. that has caused huge anger and frustration. it is deeply un—british and it is right that we should call it out. we will come to that in a few minutes but as you said, words matter. is one of the most senior politicians in the country, that those words were islamophobic and anti—muslim? do you believe that? i am not asking you about lee anderson's intent. i am asking you what you believe. i think the two of them kind of go together, laura. i don't believe that lee anderson was intending to be islamophobic. but nonetheless, i understand the concern, particularly when it is in relation to the mayor of london, how those words have caused offence... but you are talking about...

and because of that, that is why he was given the chance to apologise and when he failed to do so, action was taken in that respect. but the question i'm asking you and i think our viewers will be able to hear very clearly that you don't want to give your view, is it your view that saying, "i believe they have got control of khan and they have got control of london", is that islamophobia? i think the chance that... the fact that it could be taken in that way is the reason why those comments led to the chief whip asking for an apology on behalf of the prime minister. i share those concerns about how they could be taken in that way and that is why it is right that he should be asked to give an apology and when he failed to, though whip was removed. i think our viewers will hear very clearly you are declining to give your own view on what those words mean.

no, no... i think i have been clear that they could be taken that way, right? because they could be taken that way, he was given the chance to apologise and he failed to do so. if he had apologised, would he have kept hisjob? yes, he was asked to apologise and he failed to do so and that is what happened. of course it is right that we debate these individual words but the more fundamental thing for me is, what is going on right now in our country. i have constituents of mine who arejewish, who are afraid to walk the streets, to show the symbols of their religion. we see those marches, where we witness, week after week of anti—semitic process and people taking part in those notches and not calling them out. and now we have seen in our own parliament, debates being influenced because of that threat of violence. i think all of us need to take a step back and say this is not just about policing,

it is about our attitudes to what we accept. i think this kind of coarsening, where we accept threats of violence as being routine against elected politicians, whatever colour, is deeply dangerous for our politics. we need to call it out. many politicians agree with you and i'm sure many viewers would agree with you but as you said at the beginning, words matter. people respond to things that politicians say. and what lee anderson said was striking lee similar to what suella braverman, the former home secretary, wrote in the telegraph. she said, "the truth is, the islamist, the extremists and anti—semites are in charge now." you said clearly what lee anderson said could be taken as being offensive. that is very similar. do you think what she said could be taken as being offensive, to? taken as being offensive, too? well, i would say in respect of what suella braverman said,

that i disagree but i think that is in a different category that i disagree with the comment, i believe for the reasons i set out, the underlying sentiment, and my deep concern about these threats and intimidation is, which are often coming from islamic extremists and we should not be shy of calling that out and i have done so as an mp. but i don't believe that what suella has said crosses the line in the way that lee anderson's com instead. that lee anderson's comments do. but she said that the islamists are in charge. you have said you don't believe that is true. lee anderson said the islamists are in control of sadiq khan. why is it different? there is a slight danger of getting into the semantics of there. into the semantics of this. but words matter, you have said that yourself. please allow me to finish my point. this is about attaching specifically to one person, the mayor of london and i think what suella was saying was making a broader statement,

one which i don't agree with the specifics of what she said but i very much agree with the concerns that she is raising about threats coming often from islamic extremists, which are being used to intimidate jewish people in this country and are being used to intimidate a debate in our own parliament. i think worries about language should not stop democratically elected politicians doing their duty of calling this out and seeing what a seminal moment it is for our country this week, where, you know, we have had lots of lines crossed in the past but this for me is a totally different level. and you have made that point. but how politicians respond to it does matter and some of your colleagues do believe that suella braverman crossed a line. one of your own peers, said she is prepared to divide, to ratchet up hate,

and set our country alight for political posturing. this is shocking and dangerous. well, i don't agree with sayeeda warsi on that, i have made clear my views with relation to suella which is that i don't with the specific words she chose to use but it is a legitimate matter of political debate. but we're not talking about insubstantial people, suella braverman until very recently was very senior in your party and liz truss was the prime minister. she was filled with one of donald trump's friends, steve bannon, this week. steve bannon was talking about tommy robinson, the founder of the english defence league, who has a string of convictions. he called him a hero and she was standing alongside and did not challenge it. let's show it to the viewers.

do you think, as sajid javid said, former colleague of yours, that liz truss should have known better? she also talked about the deep state undermining her, which many other reviewers would say is a conspiracy theory. she should have called it out. what i say is that when the cameras are on you and you have got a big debate going on, you sometimes don't catch every single word that someone says. that is for liz to explain why she did not call it out at the time. i know this sounds like a slightly trite point, but when you've body is on you, a debate going on, sometimes you not catch everything. your extremism chief, robin simcox, sat in the chair last week

and we had a serious discussion about all of this. he told us about the rising anti—semitism and also the rise in islamophobia as being a very serious issue. when the prime minister put a statement out last night condemning extremism, calling out anti—semitism, that statement did not mention islamophobia. why not? well, the prime minister has been robust in showing that there is zero tolerance for islamophobia. the point the prime minister was making in his statement is the point i've been trying to make during this interview, as well, which is when we see the real pressure happening right now, if you look at those marches week after week, people are going on those marches and they are carrying placards which have anti—semitic tropes on them. our own parliament has had projected onto it an anti—semitic trope. the debate that was going on in parliament this week, and by the speaker's own account, the reason why he chose to alter established precedent to have that vote was because of fears about safety. those are all coming

from a perspective that i see going through threats tojews on the streets of our country, the threats of those marches, no threats in the house of commons. that is what the prime minister was addressing in that statement. of course, the prime minister has addressed islamophobia, you talked about extremism, calling out extremism across the board. the comments he was making were about this kind of train of events that we have seen in our country over the past weeks. i think all decent people in this country, the vast majority, whether they are conservative or other parties, need to stand up and called us out. we cannot be any situation where we allow freedom of expression, the hard fought freedoms of our parliament and our democracy to be put at risk by people that masquerade as having legitimate protests, but actually are using violence and intimidation. it is a fact that members of parliament were worried about voting on the motion, not discharging the duty

to the people that elected them and their duty to their conscience because of external violence. that is something that is right for the prime minister of our nation to address, that is what he did in those words. that is where the focus was. laura also spoke to the labour party's lisa nandy. she was asked about the chaotic scenes in the house of commons on wednesday when the government and snp walked out of voting on house of commons gaza ceasefire vote. here's that interview. i sat through the entirety of that debate, with the snp storming out, the tories strongly out, then strumming back in, storming out again. it was a very angry debate that focused more on what was happening in the house of commons than what was about to unfold in rafah. we have an impending ground invasion in rafah, the consequences of that would be utterly catastrophic. it was the moment where we could have come together to speak with one voice and send a very clear message. in the end, i am glad that because we put forward a motion that all parties,

we thought, could support, i am glad that there was a motion that was passed, calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. but i do not think anyone could look at those scenes on wednesday and think that cover the political system in the uk in glory. it did not. oliver dowden had told us this morning that a line had been crossed this week and there has—been, reporting by the bbc and others, that labour suggested that speaker could be shoved out of his job after the next election if he did not allow a vote on labour's plan. this is a really important issue about the independence of the speaker. keir starmer has denied that he individually did that. can you guarantee to our viewers this morning that no one from the labour party was involved in any conversation or passing a message to the speaker suggesting that hisjob might be on the line

and he did what labour wanted? yes, i believe that i can. i have had numerous conversations, as you can imagine, with my colleagues, with keir starmer, with our chief whip, with david lammy, shadow foreign secretary, over the last few weeks and months, since the 7th of october unfolded. frankly, the idea that you would threaten the speaker of the house of commons is for the birds. i have served under three different speakers over 14 years, i can tell you that is not how it works. the speaker is in charge, is the guardian of our processes and procedures, and makes the decisions. the idea that any political leader or any politician of any party could threaten the house of commons speaker and get away with it is just absolute and utter nonsense. the truth of what unfolded on wednesday was that while the international community was very focused on what was happening in gaza and so are we, the conservatives appear to have discovered at the 11th hour that they did not have the votes to prevent the labour motion from going through, and they came

and pulled their amendment, which triggered the collapse of the whole debate. you're making a political point. that motion went through and we spoke with one voice. rather than making a political point, ijust wanted to highlight to viewers that you have just given as a specific assurance on the record that no one in the labour party said or communicated a message to lindsay hoyle that his job might be on the line if he did not allow labour to have a vote on its amendment. its plan in the house of commons. i certainly didn't, the chief whip didn't, the leader of the labour party didn't, no members of staff were involved, would ever be involved in doing something like that. frankly, if anybody had done something like that from any political party, i think they would have had very short thrift from the speaker. you heard it in the words that the leader of the house penny mordaunt used on wednesday at business questions, he is our speaker and he is trusted by mps across the house to uphold

what is the right thing to do for members of parliament of all parties and for the country. that is why you have seen so many tory mps and others rallying to his defence this week. the truth is, as andy burnham was just saying on your programme, a lot of the processes and procedures in the house were outdated. what the speaker was seeking to do was to put the widest range of options before the house and ensure that the house could come to one view. that is why we deliberately crafted our amendment to make sure that most mps from most parties could come together and support it. our eyes are on what is happening in rafah and gaza, the impending catastrophe that is happening there. it is important you house of commons is able to stand up for what is right, which in the end is what we did on wednesday. can you give a guarantee that sir lindsay hoyle will be reappointed as common speaker after the election if labour wins? of course i can't because it is not in the gift of a political party.

we have a system, rightly, where the speaker is elected by members of parliament from across the house of commons, from every political party. that is an essential part of the speaker's independence. for what it is worth, i think that he did the right thing on wednesday in seeking to ensure that we had the widest range of voices. i think his conduct afterwards and coming to the house and expressing his deep regret and sorrow, that had not been able to happen, that was the right thing to do. we now need to take a long hard look at the processes we have in parliament to make sure we do not have a repeat of this. the most important thing, as i say, is that the impending ground invasion in rafah, the house of commons was able to come together around a motion that we deliberately crafted to enable us to speak with one voice and say this cannot and must not go ahead. you mentioned that the procedures in parliament might be out of date, and we have just been talking to andy burnham about his view that the piping system, where mps have to vote along party

lines, should be phased out. it has had its day. would you look at that? i think the objection that you raised is an important one. i very sympathetic to what andy has got to say, as someone who has fallen foul of the whip many times during my years in parliament and has at times had to step off and on to the backbenches in to speak freely about issues that matter to me, including standing up to anti—semitism within my own party. i have felt at times very constrained. but political parties need to be able to express a clear view, we need to be clear with the electorate about what it is that we stand for. it is at the forefront of my mind right now having been out in the region in the middle east many times over recent months that when you speak for your party on issues relating to foreign policy, for example, foreign leaders need to know that you speak with the full authority of your party. there is very much a case for a more

grown—up political debate where we are able to express differences, but the procedures that failed us last week where the standing order procedures that were built for a time when you only had two main political parties. what you have got now is many smaller parties, as well, within parliament. they are not likely to form the next government, but they do have a view that represents the views out in the country. i think it is important that we find ways to enable that for a full range of views to be expressed. it is very soon to be the rochdale by—election were labour abandoned its candidate when he was recorded expressing unpleasant and anti—semitic views. if you were a viewer in rochdale today, who would you as a labour senior figure advised them to vote for? i would not advise them to vote for any of the candidates. i'm afraid we are in the extraordinary and unprecedented position of having to withdraw our candidate in the by—election so there is no labour candidate to vote for.

what i would say is that having watched the extraordinary scenes, notjust in rochdale when i was there, there was hate and division being stoked by particular candidates, which people in rochdale do not need or want. watching what has unfolded in the conservative party, the absolute poison that has been allowed to seep into their political debate, and a prime minister that is seemingly unwilling to acknowledge the term islamophobia, let alone stand up to senior politicians and his party dragging our politics into to the sewer, i would say to people in rochdale, if you are going out to vote, please consider voting for anybody who you believe will help to bring an end to this hate and division at a time when it is spilling onto our streets. we need political leaders prepared to stand up to it, not stoke it. around 1.5 half million women in the uk are affected by the agonising condition endometriosis, but specialist surgery is offering hope. our health correspondent matthew hill has the details. antonia has lost count of the number of operations she's had

for a condition she suffered from for 30 years. i was on 180 milligrams of morphine a day. i was housebound. bedbound. no social life. um, no... my life just was miserable. endometriosis affects one in ten women and involves tissue becoming inflamed. it can develop anywhere in the body, but most commonly occurs in the lining of the womb. antonia ended up going private eight years ago in london, where her endometriosis was surgically removed using a robot. i came off the morphine, came off the antidepressants, no painkillers, and i got my life back. according to consultants i've spoken to, up until now getting the surgery which transformed antonia's life has been a bit of a postcode lottery, but now southmead hospital has set up this centre specialising in endometriosis, offering women across the south—west treatment. using a robot, the surgeon is able

to penetrate inaccessible areas more precisely. it can give you like greater articulation, makes you access certain areas of the pelvis that you can't access easily with laparoscopic surgery. it gives you better identification of the disease and more precise excision. the new centre is also home to a team of dedicated radiologists, specialist nurses, colorectal and cardiothoracic surgeons and pain specialists. we also are quite unique in that we really good connections with our team, so it means that we can offer a lot and offer a broader range of treatments. since the robotic surgery started here 14 months ago, around 200 patients have been treated. lengths of stay have halved to around one day, waiting times have also reduced from two years to one year and complication rates have reduced significantly. i have friends. i have a social life. we go out.

i go out with my husband. we go away for weekends. i can go for long walks with people, with friends and family. i'm standing tall, rather than crouched down all the time and it's just amazing. absolutely amazing. matthew hill, bbc news. with its tense, and sometimes brutal, telling of police rookies in belfast, blue lights was one of the most popular new tv dramas last year. well, it's returning to our screens for a second season and there are two more in the pipeline. our reporter ita dungan has the details. do you want to know how i think it's going for the three of you? not very well, to put it mildly. in season one, we met the three rookie officers. set in belfast, blue lights was a police drama for a new generation,

one where the troubles were not front and center and it went down very well indeed. so well, that season two is nearly ready for our screens. still in belfast, but a different location. so season two is in this part of the city? yeah, we've come east. we filmed over here for most of season two. a bit in the city centre, as well. season one was set in the west. yeah, we thought we wanted to see a different side of belfast, you know, equal opportunities! but making something that appeals to people here is one thing, bringing along audiences from elsewhere is something different. for writer declan lawn, it's all about the people. for us, the key to it is, if you have good characters in a situation that's kind of universal, like, everyone�*s started a newjob, everybody has felt out of their depth and if you concentrate on them, then people will put up with a lot, even if they don't understand the context. it's all about the characters. not limited to season two, the bbc has just commissioned seasons three and four — all very good news. we know now that we're going to be working on this for three, maybe four years. like, we know what we're doing and that's really rare in television drama.

you almost never know what you're doing next year. so, yeah, to have that certainty helps us creatively, but it also helps the industry, it helps a lot of individuals. it's just a really positive thing. so prepare for more filming on the streets of belfast as the rookies continue to learn their trade. that report from ita dungan. you can watch series one of blue lights now on bbc iplayer ahead of the new series this spring. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise lear. hello there. it was a cold and locally foggy start for many this morning. temperatures fell in parts of aberdeenshire as low as minus eight degrees, but there was a widespread frost for many, the exception down towards the south—west. i'll come on to that injust a moment. but we had some glorious sunshine. despite that chilly start, a lovely morning across frinton—on—sea in essex. by contrast, into the south—west, more cloud, stronger winds and some rain arriving with this area

of low pressure. just fringing with parts of south wales, as well. as we go through the morning and into the afternoon, that rain is going to continue to slowly drift its way eastwards, maybe bringing more cloud into the london area during the afternoon, but it should stay dry. further north of that, sunny spells will continue and any showers will be very isolated indeed, perhaps most frequent to the far north—west of scotland, with highs of six to ten degrees. that rain will continue to move its way across channel coasts overnight. the heaviest of the rain south of the m4 corridor. it will take its time to ease away from the kent coast by dawn on monday morning. that cloud and rain will prevent temperatures from falling too far, so a frost—free start for much of england and wales. we'll have clearer skies further north and west, so here a light frost is likely. but the difference with monday, once that rain has cleared away from the extreme south—east, is the wind direction — a brisk north—easterly, particularly across central and southern england. we could see gusts of winds up

to 30mph to 40mph in places and that will make it feel noticeably fresher. a lot of dry weather and, again, some sunshine coming through, with highs of seven to ten degrees. as we move out of monday into tuesday we're going to see some wet and windy weather pushing in to scotland. that will drift its way across scotland, northern ireland into northern england and wales by the end of the afternoon. ahead of it we are likely to see quite a lot of cloud developing, as well. by tuesday, brighter with a few scattered showers out to the far north—west. that front will clear slowly but surely as we move out of tuesday. it will not bring that much in the way of rain to the south—east and this brief ridge of high pressure will build before more fronts wait in the wings. it is going to be a changeable week ahead, really. at times we will have some brighter weather, followed by rain and then the brighter weather returns.

live from london. this is bbc news. senior conservatives are drawn into an argument over islamophobia — after a tory party mp is suspended

for comments about london's mayor. i don't believe that lee anderson said those remarks intending to be islamophobic. donald trump secures a fourth major victory in a republican presidential primary, but his rival, nikki haley, israel's main opposition leader criticises police for suppressing anti—government protesters. they had been demanding the release of hostages held by hamas. and oppenheimer was the big winner at the screen actors guild awards— it netted the top prize of best cast, as well as best actor for cillian murphy. hello, i'm lauren taylor. deputy prime minister oliver dowden has refused to be drawn on whether the former conservative mp, lee anderson's comments were islamophobic. mr anderson was suspended

from the party on saturday after he refused to apologise for saying that "islamists" had