i think that works better on the page there. only one story in town, and we have the two perfect people to discuss it. the resignation of the defence secretary. you clearly have had a busy evening because this story only broke at 7:30pm. how much ofa story only broke at 7:30pm. how much of a shock was it? a complete shock. he goes back to this claim by a journalist friend of mine, julia hartley—brewer, that michael fallon had touched her on the knee, and she said she would punch him if he did it again. he admitted it and apologise, and it was thought that that was it, really. then a complete bombshell tonight, he's resigned. an exchange of letters, an old—fashioned resignation. there will be a new person replacing michael fallon, maybe tobias ellwood, one of his juniors at the

defence department. it is extraordinary that no one thought he would go, and we are trying to work out what it all means. it's interesting. fallon shocks westminster with a stunning resignation and admits behaviour fell short, but we have to see this in the context of all of the allegations swirling around westminster at the moment. the climate is very c bra around westminster at the moment, but people feel this is very... the climate is very febrile. a lot of women feel uncomfortable in westminster, as do a lot of young men. pretty much every female friend of mine in politics has had

experience of sexual harassment. female advisers, female journalists, they all have their own stories and wonder what to do. some stories are historic and some are more recent. there is a feeling that a lot of young women and men have had enough of this culture. it's never really a police matter. it is a lot lower level. it's insidious, it makes you uncomfortable. it's not a police matter. that is far too much. theresa may is working out what to do about this. as a man who works in westminster, are you aware of these kinds of allegations? you are told about it, but i am not told the same things you are. it's basically women sharing with other women. things you are. it's basically women sharing with other womenlj things you are. it's basically women sharing with other women. i think there is a culture... it's very,

very macho in the house of commons. it's designed to be a bit of a gentleman 's club. there's still the majority of men in positions of power. the women tend to be the support staff, more junior, and the men are away from their wives, homes and families, and there is quite a lot of subsidised booze, which is a heady mixture. my experience is that a lot of men, who tend to be a bit older, don't realise what they are doing is inappropriate. they don't think what they are doing is particularly bad. they think it comes with the job. being an mp, being ina comes with the job. being an mp, being in a position of power, the perks that come with it is this kind of behaviour. they think it is a bit of behaviour. they think it is a bit of naughty fun. michael fallon said that his conduct fell below the standards that are now expected. that is what it says on the front

pages. do you think moore might emerge about his behaviour? we don't know. as things stand tonight, we don't know the answer. there is a suspicion that more might come out. the bbc reported earlier that more claims were made to number 10. we don't know if that's true. maybe he felt that rather than hanging on while other things emerge, he would go now. my experience, and a lot of the other women i've spoken to, often people doing this type of behaviour is not a one off. it's kind of a pattern of behaviour, and i think he has done the right thing. he said about standards for the armed forces, but it's also standards of decent men and women who are modern in 2017 would expect.

the house of commons makesjudgment on the rest of us. we have to abide by the laws that are created in the house of commons. they do have to hold themselves to a higher degree of behaviour. while there are no new allegations against him, there is evidence that things that he previously viewed as flotation might become public. on to the telegraph, your front—page story. the become public. on to the telegraph, yourfront—page story. the headline was interesting. fallon quits as westminster sex scandal claims its first scalp. is the indication that there could be more? there might be more. we might go back to the back to basics crisis that laid waste to john major. that was seen by journalists as no more sex and

sleaze, and it triggered all sorts of stories. the other point is that it's quite easy to get tribal about this, and say that it is one party against another. i am a pretty tribal person, having been a labour person, andl tribal person, having been a labour person, and i would say that all parties have an issue with this. we heard terrible stories this week about a story about a young activist who claims she was raped and a party official swept it under the carpet. we have to avoid being partisan. officials need to come together and find solutions, mechanisms, and independent complaint system so that young, vulnerable men and women in the house of commons feel they have somewhere to go to. damian green denies any allegations about his conduct, but he is basically under

pressure and is being investigated by the cabinet office. let's move on to the daily mirror. the front—page story, dustin hoffman sexually harassed me when i was just 17. story, dustin hoffman sexually harassed me when i wasjust 17. this is the oscar—winning actor, famous for films like to see. he has is the oscar—winning actor, famous forfilms like to see. he has been accused of harassment on the set of death of a salesman back in 1985. the woman who accused me was —— the woman who accused him was an intern at the time. this takes you back to hollywood, where this whole thing began. yes, the harvey weinstein allegations were the genesis of this story. it is worth saying that this type of culture exists across many, many industries. i think it happens everywhere, but certainly hollywood

has been the focus of this. the interesting, or the worrying thing about this is that she was a very, very young girl, and he was this movie star, a lot older than her. he is saying that... a lot of this is about abuse of power. often when young people come into film or politics, they are starry eyed, and if you are one of the celebrities, you have a lot of power, and how you wield that power has to be watched carefully. dustin hoffman says, i have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything i might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. i am sorry. so he has apologised. it's coming out daily mail. kevin spacey

earlier this week. it all started with the harvey weinstein affair. it all seems to be really serious, and all seems to be really serious, and a pattern of abuse over many years, allegedly, with those women. back to the telegraph, and a story you vote. labour angers the palace by dragging the queen into brexit row. how have they done that? get the queen involved in the brexit! before the last referendum last year, it was said she backed brexit. this is using a commons procedure, called the humble address, to try to force the humble address, to try to force the government to release these papers showing the impact of brexit on 58 areas. where the government to release this... the queen has a motion called the humble address, and will have to respond to what the

labour party pushes through, which may draw the queen in on brexit. this could be avoided by the government releasing those documents. they are really important, and there's prominent conservative party members saying, what ever position you have taken on the brexit debate, everyone should ca re the brexit debate, everyone should care about the future of the country, and these impact assessments are very important for mps to shine a bit of light on what is going on. they are saying they wa nt to is going on. they are saying they want to release it. i thought that the vote tonight wasn't binding. the speaker said it was binding, but the government are going to respond. i have been led to believe that they are going to release the gist. are they going to redact it? that is what keir starmer said. not a

surprise i am slightly confused by that! slightly confused by brexit. good to talk to you both. don't forget you can see the front pages of the papers online on the bbc news website. it's all there for you — seven days a week on our website. thank you, christopher hope and ayesha hazarika. goodbye. good evening. turning cooler over the coming few days, but the first day of november was a mild one. 16 degrees in the south—east of england. away from the north—east of scotland, some rain earlier today,

which repeated out and is drifting southwards with that band of cloud. either side of that, some cloud. south of that main band of cloud, some fog in southern england. generally a sunny start across scotland, but it will be colder. some sunshine across northern ireland and northern england, away from a couple of showers running down the north sea coast. here is the band of cloud heading through the band of cloud heading through the south of england, the midlands and into the south of wales. some fog during the rush hourfor some, tending to lift later to low cloud. cheering up in the far south—west perhaps. the best of the sunshine northern england and northwards, though temperatures no better than 10 degrees in scotland. this weather

front producing this area of cloud eases away overnight. nothing really happening as we head into friday. the weather front in the north—west very weak. light winds elsewhere. a fair bit of cloud to begin the day across england and wales. maybe breaking up, any mist and fog lifting and sunshine beginning to come through. it will get colder this weekend, because the wind direction will change. the wind will strengthen as well, with a north—westerly that will drag down the cold air as the weekend goes on. that is behind this rain that will have developed overnight, and starting the weekend wet across the east midlands and eastern england. some showers could be quite heavy in the north—west of the uk. showers few and far between on sunday. some

send chine, temperatures starting to build. this is bbc news. i'm rebecca jones. the headlines at eleven. sir michael fallon resigns as defence secretary, saying his behaviour may have fallen short of the standards expected by the uk military. we expect the very highest standards of the armed services. i don't think it's right that on occasion in the past when i have fallen below those standards that i should continue to serve as defence secretary. sir michael's resignation follows theresa may's invitation to party leaders to discuss the sexual harassment claims at westminster. prosecutors in new york file terror charges against the uzbek immigrant accused of killing eight people in a truck attack. and on newsnight, as the defence

secretary resigned over allegations of past behaviour