this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa barak. the headlines at nine. labour's kelvin hopkins categorically denies allegations of inappropriate behaviour, as his party faces criticism for his promotion months after he was rebuked for sexually harassing an activist. tonight, labour is also investigating a formal complaint against former shadow cabinet member clive lewis, who denies any wrongdoing. i don't, as a rule, at packed labour party conferences, group people's bottoms when i meet them. —— group. it isn't how i roll and what i do. scotland yard is investigating an allegation that the hollywood actor kevin spacey sexually assaulted a young man in london. an official arrest warrant is issued for the ousted catalan leader, who's remaining defiant. he's in brussels. an army sergeant accused

of attempting to murder his wife by sabotaging her parachute gives evidence for the first time. also ahead this hour: two delivery drivers are attacked with acid in london. police say one is likely to lose his sight. a 14—year—old is in custody. coming up at 9.30 this evening, in a special programme david sillito will be taking a look at the other buildings that were in the running for the prestigious riba stirling prize for architecture, which was awarded earlier this week to the restored hastings pier. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the labour mp clive lewis has tonight told the bbc he strongly denies a claim of harassment

made against him. the party has said it's begun an inquiry into the allegation, and mr lewis has said it's right that such reports are fully investigated. it comes as the pressure increases onjeremy corbyn, the party leader, to explain why he appointed another of his mps, kelvin hopkins, to the shadow cabinet. months after he'd been reprimanded for alleged inappropriate behaviour towards a young party activist. mr hopkins has also this evening said he "absolutely and categorically" denied allegations of inappropriate conduct. labour now says it will appoint an independent organisation to offer confidential support to anyone affected by sexual harassment. meanwhile, for the conservatives theresa may has issued the party's own new code of conduct following allegations against several prominent conservatives. our deputy political editor,

john pienaar reports. step—by—step, one by one, in one party, then another and today, a young labour activist with more allegations of sexual misconduct in politics. her story has added to a crisis unlike anything westminster has seen. ava etemadzadeh tells of a labour mp 15 years her senior, kelvin hopkins, who she says subjected her as a labour—supporting student to inappropriate treatment again and again. the first incident happened on campus and he hugged me very tightly and rubbed himself against me. he made me feel extremely uncomfortable and it was a revolting act. the second incident was in parliament, when i went to have a political conversation with him and he told me that,

"let's not talk about politics, do you have a boyfriend?" he also said that if nobody was in his office, he would have taken me there. i was absolutely shocked. there were calls she didn't answer, then came the uncomfortable text messages. i'm an "attractive, lovely young woman" and a man "would be lucky to have me as a lover", and if he was young... but he's not. kelvin hopkins was reprimanded two years ago after she complained, yet he was made a shadow cabinet minister when jeremy corbyn was facing a party mutiny and needed allies lastjune. now the story's come out and he's been suspended from the party. there is an investigation but his accuser is unhappy that he was promoted at all. that made me feel very powerless and isolated and alone. today, jeremy corbyn was in no mood to defend his position as leader in the whole affair. thank you for coming, goodbye. were you aware of the allegations against him, mr corbyn, before you promoted him

to the shadow cabinet? no word from him or his office, although he knew about the reprimand and some, but not all of the detail, and promoted kelvin hopkins anyway. goodbye. but some in labour's ranks want to hear more. she said she was satisfied with the way in which the chief whip at the time managed the situation but horrified to then see the mp in question promoted. i think it's a fair question as to how that happened. it's one that only the leadership can answer. i don't think i would have promoted him and i know that the victim felt a bit bereft by his promotion. as for the tories, reports say cabinet minister andrea leadsom accused sir michael fallon, who resigned this week, of inappropriate conduct six years ago. he denies misconduct. downing street says she never called for him to go. theresa may's published a new conservative code of conduct, with a hotline for complaints and an independent figure to helpjudge cases. tories accept all sides must act. it's very important that all political parties have codes

of conduct where they set out the standards that should be expected of people who are in elected office and who are in public life. no—one here is arguing with that, there will be new safeguards for people working in parties and parliament, but no—one imagines that will stem the flow of accusations that is hanging over british politics. the fear that every day could bring a new scandal, another crisis. we spoke to clive lewis and our ago and asked about the allegation against him. the first i heard of it is when the independent asked me for comment on the story. i've denied the allegation. the comments, i have read the comments from the person in question. i don't as a rule, at packed labour party conferences, grope people's bottoms when i greet

them. it's not how i roll, what i do. is the person mistaken? have i given them a hug and it has been misinterpreted? i don't know. all i know is that i wouldn't deliberately do that. i completely deny that. 0k but how are you feeling about it? i'm feeling pretty taken aback by it all. it's not been a great week in parliament, for parliament. a pretty tough fortnight. what i am very clear about, as difficult as it is for me, i think it is right and proper that there are bust and effective processes in place to allow people —— there are robust and effective processes to allow people to make an accusation, that they are being abused in some way, bullied, assaulted. i think it's important

that westminster clears up its house and has these processes in place. u nfortu nately and has these processes in place. unfortunately there will be people like me where allegations are made, iam like me where allegations are made, i am vigorously disputing it, whether this person has made a mistake or whether they are lying, i think as politicians we often in a position where we are quite vulnerable, in the public eye, we make enemies, there are people in the media who would love to see things happen to us. that's what can happen. we need to find a balance, i'm not sure if we have yet but people should feel confident to come forward and express themselves if they feel something untoward has happened. i'd like to know what you mean by robust rules in a moment but it must be a strange atmosphere within the political world at the moment. are you worried?” within the political world at the moment. are you worried? i think a lot of people, talking to colleagues in parliament, people are aghast, thinking, whose turn is it next, will it be me? will it be somebody

from five, ten years ago? as human beings, we pretty much know as active members of society what is wrong and what you can and cannot do. as politicians the bar is set higher. that's right and proper. there needs to be transparent guidance on what you can do, the relationships you can have, what is appropriate, so everyone can see, there are no excuses of ignorance. they are the robust processes, the ability of people to complain and to be able to come forward in confidence that what they are saying will be taken seriously. earlier today a member of the nec, jasmine beckett, has said, she has written to your leader and she has said that the code of conduct isn't good enough. her words were, insufficient, they don't stand up to what's needed now. what do you make of how these harassment allegations

are being handled?” of how these harassment allegations are being handled? i think when bex bailey came forward six years ago, it was an appalling case and she was told things like not coming forward, which is wrong. my understanding is that the code of conduct that is in place now is dealing with that. i think what we are seeing since harvey wein steen is that there is a repositioning, if you want, is of what is acceptable and how we go forward with that. we must take stock of that and act accordingly. the conservative party and my party need to do that. there is a code of conduct that people are talking about and that must happen. it is an ongoing situation and political parties will need to catch up and

put those processes in place. clive lewis speaking to us earlier. breaking news coming in, it's been reported that the conservatives have removed the whip from charlie elphick, the mp for dover. this comes elphick, the mp for dover. this co m es after elphick, the mp for dover. this comes after serious allegations that have been reported to the police. we hope to get more from chris mason later this evening. that's all we have at the moment. harini iyengar is a barrister specialising in employment, discrimination and equality. she also stood for as a candidate for the women's equality party. it must be fascinating, watching these developments. what's your take on them? my first reaction, my impression as an outsider is that

what goes on at westminster is quite old—fashioned, a lack of flexible working, a shortage of women in senior positions, things we hear from women mps about their experiences. hearing some of their male mps about confusion about how to behave is quite stunning because in the rest of the world, thinking about male doctors, other men do not share computer and about where their minds are —— do not share that confusion. i want to tie this back to clive lewis because earlier, and the end of october, mr corbyn was responding to the comments that clive lewis had made, he said that he is leading a party with more women mps than the rest of the parties put together. recognising that women play such a large role in the labour party, and politics, how do you think that political parties

such as labour are actually handling these allegations? having women in institutions and political parties is in the same as having women with power and authority. as an outsider from the labour party, and the same goes for the other big parties, if women were able to exert their influence and speak out this wouldn't be such a scandal. if people did speak out at the time they would be dealt with informally. it isa they would be dealt with informally. it is a sign it is becoming a big scandal, more revelations, that there is a lot below the surface that these women have not been able to deal with, haven't been able to raise informally, or they have raised it and it has been suppressed. this code of conduct that everyone has talked about, the tories have announced it on their website, labour are talking about their code of conduct, do you think that will work in such a unique place as westminster? they aren't employees and the question is, who is in the position of authority?

ultimately the party leaders. in any organisation we see as employment lawyers sometimes you have a lovely code on paper, people haven't had the time or incentive to read it and understand what it means with practical examples. i haven't seen the codes but if they look like a piece of legislation i don't think they will work. what people need, especially those who say, i don't know where to turn, can't a gentleman give a lady a condiment any more, those people need training. i've been invited to give people training. political parties must send a message that it will be taken seriously. thank you for joining us. another developer and in the last fema minutes, the removal of the whip from charlie elphicke. to tell us whip from charlie elphicke. to tell us more, we're going to talk to

chris mason. what's going on? every hour we've spoken, haven't we, this evening, and every hour there have been more allegations and developments. in the last couple of minutes, receiving news from the conservative party, from the chief whip, julian smith, who is new in thejob am whip, julian smith, who is new in the job am having taken over from gavin williamson, the defence secretary yesterday. mr smith saying that the whip has been removed from charlie elphicke, the conservative mpfor charlie elphicke, the conservative mp for dover. this comes, we are told by the tory party, after serious allegations that are being referred to the police. charlie elphicke has been a conservative mp since 2010. he was a partner at an international law firm before that and a conservative councillor in lambeth in london, contesting the seat of saint alden ‘s for a westminster seat in 2001 —— sent oldham ‘s. we don't more about the

nature of the allegations. we've tried to contact mr elphicke but he isn't picking up his phone. as your question tests, there is a rapidity and pace at the moment in these allegations that are being made and allegations that are being made and a real desire from the political parties to be seen to be taking them with the utmost seriousness. clearly in terms of a response from a political party, this is amongst the most severe. 2a hours ago, kelvin hopkins, having the labour whip removed and a couple of days before that, sir michael fallon lost his job as defence secretary. now the conservatives removing the whip from theirmp, conservatives removing the whip from their mp, charlie elphicke, who remains an mp but he will sit effectively as an independent while the whip remains removed. to those who don't understand the mannerisms

and organics in politics: what exactly is the whip? —— and mechanics. the whip is the mechanism used to instruct mps of a particular party how to vote. the chief whip and the team of whips are those who say that there is a particular vote coming up on a particular day and this is the way that the party is going to be voting. if you rebel, you go against the whip and you vote with the other side. instructions are sent out by the whips to all of the mps under the banner of that party. if you lose the whip, you no longer get those instructions. in practical terms, you continue as a member of parliament but you are effectively sitting as an independent. thank you forjoining us. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 this evening in the papers. our guestsjoining me tonight are martin lipton, deputy head of sport at the sun and rosamund urwin, columnist

for the london evening standard. the headlines on bbc news: labour's kelvin hopkins categorically denies allegations of inappropriate behaviour , as his party faces criticism for his promotion months after he was rebuked for sexually harassing an activist. it's emerged labour is also investigating a formal complaint against former shadow cabinet member clive lewis — who denies any wrongdoing. and scotland yard is investigating an allegation that the hollywood actor, kevin spacey, sexually assaulted a young man in london. the hollywood actor and theatre director kevin spacey is being investigated by the metropolitan police. it follows an allegation of sexual

assault here in the uk. it's understood officers from the child abuse and sexual offences command are looking into claims that the house of cards actor sexually assaulted a man in lambeth in 2008. the met has declined to identify the suspect. our entertainment correspondent chi chi izundu sent us this update from outside the old vic theatre, where mr spacey used to be artistic director. we understand that the metropolitan police are now investigating an allegation of sexual assault against kevin spacey. it's thought a 32—year—old british man walked into a police station and made a complaint which has been passed on to the metropolitan police child abuse and sexual offences command. several allegations of sexual abuse and harassment have been made against kevin spacey through the week and we are hearing a number of employees have come

forward who work on the house of cards set, which has shut down production indefinitely because of these allegations. they have alleged sexual harassment from kevin spacey. the charity commission in the uk is investigating, not formally, but they have approached the old vic's trust and the kevin spacey foundation, two charities he was part of, to ask about allegations over what they knew and did not know. kevin spacey has parted ways with his publicist and with his agents. earlier he issued a statement saying he was seeking treatment. we tried to reach out to his lawyers and we have yet to hear any response. the metropolitan police say a fast food delivery driver is in danger of losing his sight and is in a critical condition after having acid thrown in his face in north london. the incident was one of two attacks

on delivery drivers last night. officers have arrested a 14—year—old boy. our correspondent dan johnson who was at the court gave me this update. the injuries are far more serious, the police say this man has injuries to his face, eyes and throat and if he survives he may never see again. he was the driver delivering a ta keaway to he was the driver delivering a takeaway to a residential street in waltha mstow takeaway to a residential street in walthamstow at about 6pm when he was attacked by two men trying to steal his bike and when he resisted that attempt, they threw a corrosive substance into his face. there was another attack not far away in totte n ha m another attack not far away in tottenham half an hour later and the police say they believe that the attacks are linked. they've arrested attacks are linked. they've arrested a 14—year—old boy on suspicion of committing grievous bodily harm. the police believe there is one more young man involved they want to know

where that is and who he is. why do you think they are targeting delivery drivers? they are a soft target, so many of them are driving around in london, specially late at night, although this was 6pm. usually they have a scooter, the kind of thing that young criminals wa nt kind of thing that young criminals want because it's easy for them to get around london, to commit other crimes. we see in the crime of driving past people, sometimes going ona driving past people, sometimes going on a pavement to take a phone out of somebody‘s hands. doing that on a scooter, the ideal getaway vehicle. shops have been targeted by mobs of criminals on scooters who turn up on scooters, rob a jewellery shop and then disappear, the scooter can weave through the traffic. it is something that criminals are interested in. we believe two arrived on one scooter, attacking the delivery driver and driving off separately with the scooters they had, which may have enabled further

crime later. it's a big problem, the government have tried to cut down on the sales of acids and corrosive su bsta nces the sales of acids and corrosive substances but this is a difficult problem that isn't easy to solve. the police often say that their hands are tied, especially when it comes to mopeds and chasing them, that, nation of mopeds and acid. comes to mopeds and chasing them, that, nation of mopeds and acidm seems to be a tricky combination to get to grips with because the crime is easy to commit and the acid and other substances are fairly easy to get hold of, even with tighter restrictions. having a police officer in the right place to respond is a matter of chance and evenif respond is a matter of chance and even if they get a call, chasing these kids on bikes is the fickle because of the traffic and the rain -- is because of the traffic and the rain —— is difficult. there has been an issue where the police cannot carry on the chase if they think there is a risk to the criminal or members of the public so sometimes they must back and drop the chase and let

people go. a complex issue that the police are grappling with and ministers are trying to find answers to. it is having an effect on london and other places too. an army sergeant accused of trying to kill his wife by sabotaging her parachute has begun giving evidence in his defence. victoria cilliers suffered multiple injuries when her parachute failed to open during a jump at 4,000 feet in wiltshire in 2015. her husband denies all the charges. duncan kennedy was in court. after nearly four weeks of prosecution witnesses, today it was emile cilliers who gave evidence. he is accused of twice trying to kill his wife, victoria, in the space of one week. in court, emile cilliers said he came to britain from south africa and joined the army but soon ran up a series of debts. his defence barrister elizabeth marsh qc asked him, did you deal with the debt? the prosecution claimed

it was emile cilliers's debts that was behind the reason why he wanted to kill his wife, victoria. they say he hoped to benefit from an insurance policy pay—out in the event of her death. in court, he said victoria didn't know about the extent of his debts. it was at the netheravon airbase in wiltshire that victoria cilliers made her parachute jump. she fell 4000 feet when her main and reserve parachutes failed to fully open. she suffered multiple injuries when she landed. this was the reserve parachute she had on. the prosecution say emile cilliers learned to pack reserve chutes and knew how

to sabotage one. the court heard mr cilliers, who is father to six children with three women, including two with victoria cilliers, said he had tried to pay his debts back. he denies two counts of attempted murder and will continue giving evidence on monday. duncan kennedy, bbc news, winchester crown court. just to bring you some news involving harvey wine steam, events taking place in america and the new york city police department, they have been specially and say they

have been specially and say they have a narrative from an unidentified allegation of rape against harvey wine steam —— weinstein. the police say they are gathering evidence for an arrest warrant to be issued. they say they have a credible and detailed narrative from an alleged victim. we have a case here is what they are saying. they will be issuing a warrant against harvey weinstein. we'll be watching those developments very closely. a spanishjudge has issued a european arrest warrant for the ousted catalan leader carles puigdemont. mr puigdemont — who was sacked as the region's leader

after declaring independence last week before spain asserted direct rule over catalonia — had left the region failed to appear at a spanish court earlier this week. thejudge rejected his request to testify by video conference. the weather now. there may be some fog patches earlier this evening but the rain is going to be developing over the next few hours and overnight. main developing over england and wales, quite heavy as well, a band of rain followed by showers in scotland and northern ireland. and surely are clear, otherwise quite mild —— some cold air. the rain initially heavy will creep east, eventually clearing away from east anglia and the south—east. remaining areas should

get some sunshine. showers coming in on the north—westerly wind, especially scotland and northern ireland. there may be some snow over the highlands. it will feel colder as the day goes on. cold start on sunday, showers pushing down the midlands to the south—east of england and fading away for many northern areas. fewer showers, england and fading away for many northern areas. fewershowers, more sunshine but a cold feeling day, temperatures 8—10 and frost is like the other night. —— likely overnight. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: conservative mp charlie elphicke has been suspended from the party. it comes after serious allegations are made that have now been referred to the police. jeremy corbyn is facing questions about why he promoted the now—suspended mp kelvin hopkins to the shadow cabinet after he'd been reprimanded. the metropolitan police are understood to be investigating a claim of sexual assault

against the hollywood actor kevin spacey. the incident is said to have taken place in 2008. a spanishjudge has issued arrest warrants for sacked catalan leader carles puigdemont and four of his ministers.