it i‘a : “rf see it? this is the third resignation. michael fallon, priti patel, is this the biggest of the three? yes. he is heard de facto number two three? yes. he is heard de facto numbertwo and he three? yes. he is heard de facto number two and he stands in when she is out of the country and hears her closest ally, they have known each other since university so imagine how it feels to write the letter she wrote to a best friend saying sorry, you are out. i think it genuinely shows a ruthless streak that perhaps not everyone would know was there but if you read the report by the cabinet office, the summary, into his behaviour, i am not sure the prime minister was left with much choice. they basically came down on the side of the person making allegations against him and also said effectively he had lied. the other allegations about pornography on his computer. when that became clear i'm not sure she had any choice. it is a misleading claims

about the allegation, not necessarily the allegation itself was true. this comes back to an issue from ten years ago. having got rid of michael fallon in a ruthless way, she set the bar high. if she had not got rid of him she would have faced accusations of cronyism. and a bit of a cover—up. so difficult for them. the issue is how you get back on the front foot and ina you get back on the front foot and in a normal news cycle you would have a rich diet of domestic stories to push things on the brexit overs ha d ows to push things on the brexit overshadows everything. in the absence of a distinct domestic agenda it is difficult. we can look at the front page of the guardian newspaper. at what point during the day, theresa may was privately dealing with this, while she was on herfeetin dealing with this, while she was on her feet in the commons, dealing with this, while she was on herfeet in the commons, or dealing with this, while she was on her feet in the commons, or sitting

ona her feet in the commons, or sitting on a searching committee examination? she didn't epically long prime minister's questions. and a committee hearing that went on two hours where she was grilled by backbench mps. poker—faced all the way through but she does almost too well. people might say that the maybot came into its own today because you would never have known behind the mask she would have to cusack one of her best friends. i'm sure she would have known this had to happen today. she got through pmqs on that that select committee is the most gruelling so fair play to her. and it felt like she had got into a groove but this is a bit of a step back. theresa may's critics would say she is a decent person, genuine, believes in doing the right thing. i think she would be not

impressed by damian green's behaviour and in the end she is not the sort of person who would let it slide. donald trump has been in the news this evening. he has been in buoyant mood as a result of tax policy in the us but the guardian from pages concentrating on what he said about the un. his decision regarding jerusalem being the capital of israel as far as he sees it and the critics who are mounting against him. again with donald trump he is rewriting rules on international diplomacy, saying countries that do not back his resolution on jerusalem countries that do not back his resolution onjerusalem will lose aid. quitea resolution onjerusalem will lose aid. quite a big move by him. what we are also seeing, america having a different face to the world. this is a bullying thing for someone to say, saying if you do not back us every time, all that money, aid money,

helping starving children and that kind of thing, that will be gone. if you think of the implications of the withdrawal of that money, that is serious, and not the sort of language we are used to hearing from the united states. and it could involve a country like egypt.l the united states. and it could involve a country like egypt. a lot of this money is spent in america's interest because it is about global security but i do not think donald trump thinks that far in front. let's move to the financial times. two elements to this, both brexit related. we have city wooing investment banks with promise of easy a ccess investment banks with promise of easy access after brexit. mark carney taking a different approach to what the eu has taken. a big battle about how much interaction there will be between our financial services industry and europe's and

europe seems to put up the barriers, or threaten to saying if you do not fall into line your banking industry will not get anywhere near. mark carney is saying whatever happens after brexit, you are welcome will stop and it is throwing the ball back to them. it is clever power play. there aren't lots of businesses financed out of europe and he is saying, you have to sort this out. a lot of countries will wa nt this out. a lot of countries will want the eu to come to a deal but countries like japan and south korea wa nt countries like japan and south korea want a trade deal and it feels at the moment the uk has momentum in this. the eu has other issues like catalonia so it is good to push it back onto their plates. we would hope it is reciprocated, if not they will be consequences, what do we read into that? there is a threat from mark carney. we go on about how big a deal it is for britain to get

a deal on financial services because it isa a deal on financial services because it is a large part of the economy but there is a lot of money for the eu and they rely on our financial services industry. we are the european capital of that industry. no deal would have big implications. i think we have been far too defensive and now it looks like we are getting on the front foot and framing the debate. what are the other elements in the brexit events today? how long will the transition period be for a example. we heard from michel barnier, not necessarily saying what theresa may might want to hear. i spoke to somebody senior in the city and they said three yea rs in the city and they said three years we wanted, two years is acceptable. we want certainty, we do not want it to be never—ending. that is the conundrum for the government how they communicate certainty. michel barnier is saying maybe it

will be a year and nine months. the way the story we have to cover it, every twist and turn and people must be sick of hearing it. are they rowing about whether it is 20 months, 24 months? the important thing is the transition delay sorted quickly so everybody knows the eu single market will finish on this date. one of the elements about the transition period is whether or not if during that transition period new laws appear, will they still apply to the uk and if not will that be problematic? it will be a problem for some in the tory party. as giles might not. a lot of backbenchers will not be impressed if we are still taking rules from europe after we have left. some elements of the party, so then it is more important to get out rather than the deal,

which is problematic in terms of scrutiny and getting a good deal but that has been noticeable. how much kick back on what theresa may came back with in the initial divorce proceedings. a tory mp told me today, i want to get out, ijust wa nt today, i want to get out, ijust want to scrub the eu symbol from my passport, that is all i care about. hopefully that is not everyone who sees hopefully that is not everyone who sees that issue. having got past this period where these three issues had to be resolved up to a point, are we now starting afresh? the sides are starting this far apart and will move closer together?” still think the time period is unrealistic. you speak to the people who did the ee you can as a deal and that took seven years with one country and we are talking about so many countries. the eu does not tend to do things quickly. and it is not

in their interest. theresa may's argument would be we're not at the same starting point as canada. we can finish was something that is not to do with the eu. inside the daily express to an interesting story about a frozen embryo, a donor embryo frozen for 25 years. it is a nice story and definitely the heart—warming stuff people like to read around christmas time. a young american couple who had a baby who is technically almost as old as her mother because the embryo was frozen in 1992 mother because the embryo was frozen in1992 and mother because the embryo was frozen in 1992 and has now been implanted. they have had a baby. an amazing world we live in, where medical science can make this sort of thing happen. an incredible story. a nice quote from the mother, do you realise i'm 26. if the baby had been

born when it was supposed to, we could have been best friends. i'm sure we will hear a lot about this tomorrow. in the circumstances of the couple, they were struggling obviously to have a child of their own. benjamin the father has cystic fibrosis which can make the father infertile. hence the arrangements we have. it makes you wonder where this will lead to. as jack said, it is a feel—good factor among a lot of doom and gloom at the moment. and some great photographs. really heart—warming. great photographs. really heart-warming. photographs of her pregnant and the record—breaking baby. on that more uplifting note, thank you. we will do this again at 11:30pm. goodbye. good evening, cloud, anthems mist

will continue the next few days. we have that today, even when there was sunshine in the scottish highlands there was mist fog. this in cumbria was associated with low cloud which produced outbreaks of rain and drizzle. some brighter glimpses. but not too many. this evening, the cloud will remain extensive, particularly to the south with this weather front. very cloudy. particularly to the south with this weatherfront. very cloudy. mist particularly to the south with this weather front. very cloudy. mist on hills in the west and drizzle. temperatures io hills in the west and drizzle. temperatures 10 degrees in plymouth that dropping to four in aberdeen with clear skies. tomorrow, the weather front, which will have moved south, moves northwards again. rain

in northern ireland into northern england and to the south largely dry and cloudy and to the north of the weather front is where we will see the best of the sunshine. on the cold side, 5 degrees in aberdeen. in northern ireland, western england, outbreaks of rain and to the south, cloudy weather. lucky to see much in the way of brightness or sunshine and the thickest of the cloud out west will produce rain and drizzle. friday morning, you could see more widespread drizzle in the south. it will clear. after a misty start there is a chance the cloud will break up more on friday. eastern scotland, north—east scotland there will be brightness and on saturday. and a breeze developing with a strong south—westerly wind. many areas dry, rain in parts of

scotland. heavy across northern and western areas. in the south, windy, miles, mostly cloudy with brighter spells that time. christmas day, the weather front will move around, bringing rain. to the south, mild and breezy, to the north, colder air stop it looks like northern areas will turn colder as we go on through christmas day. this is bbc news, i'm julian worricker. the headlines at 11:00pm: damian green, the first secretary of state, who has faced allegations of improper conduct, has been forced to resign. scotland yard is to review dozens of sex offence cases, after the collapse of two prosecutions because police failed to hand over evidence helpful to their defence. a warning that uncertainty over brexit is affecting the uk economy,

as the imf downgraded its growth prediction for this year. the first big legislative achievement of the trump presidency, as congress approves his sweeping tax reforms. it is the largest... i always say the most massive, but it is the largest tax cut in the history of oui’ largest tax cut in the history of our country, and reform, but tax cut.