this is bbc news. the headlines at 11.003m. the director of the fbi has defended its work after a classified memo was released accusing it of bias against president trump, and abuse of power. i think it's terrible — you want to know the truth i think it's a disgrace what's going on in this country i think it's a disgrace. after getting caught in a scuffle with protesters last night, conservative mpjacob rees—mogg accuses the treasury of ‘fiddling' its figures on brexit. the government has announced a package of financial support for small companies affected by the collapse of the outsourcing firm, carillion. in a crackdown on organised crime, russian oligarchs suspected of corruption will be forced to explain their luxury lifestyles in the uk. bad news for fans and papa—papa—razzi as illness forces lady gaga to cancel the last ten dates of the european leg of her world tour. the six nations kicks off later, when scotland take on wales at the principality stadium in cardiff.

and at 11.30am, foreign correspondents currently posted in london look at events in the uk through outsiders‘ eyes in dateline london. good morning and welcome to bbc news. the director of the fbi has defended its work after a classified memo was released accusing it of bias against president trump, and abuse of power. the memo — written by republican members of congress — says the fbi got permission to wiretap one of mr trump's advisers in 2016 by using unsubstantiated evidence which had been paid for by his political opponents. our correspondent peter bowes reports.

this is the memo that sunk relations between the president and the fbi to a new low. the document, written by republicans, makes the case that the justice department and the fbi showed bias towards donald trump while spying on one of his advisers. a warrant for the surveillance operation was based on a dossier of information compiled by a former british intelligence agent who was desperate for donald trump to lose the election. i think it's a disgrace what's happening in our country, and when you look at that and you see that and so many other things, what's going on, a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that. but the democrats say the memo doesn't tell the full story and is a shameful effort to discredit the ongoing investigation into the trump campaign's links with russia. the head of the fbi is defiant. addressing his staff, christopher wray said: reporter: is the memo

a dud, sir, is ita dud? donald trump is smiling again but this is a vicious fight at the heart of the us government. some are saying the only winners are the russians. peter bowes, bbc news. earlier patrick baysham — from the washington—based democracy institute — told bbc news the memo does shed some light on the actions of the fbi. i guess the surprise is how clear it appears there is a trail that has been laid inadvertently by the fbi. if what the republican memo says is true then it is pretty crystal clear that at least some senior individuals at the fbi were not telling the fisa court rather pertinent information. that is quite shocking.

we will have to see whether there is other evidence that counters that but it is a pretty damning indictment so far. for a second time in a week, the leading brexiteer — conservative jacob rees—mogg has criticised economic forecasts by civil servants, regarding the possible impacts of brexit. this morning, he said that treasury forecasts have always been "clearly politically influenced". our political correspondent matt cole is here. this has been rumbling on. he drew strong criticism from civil service unions are raising a question on the comment on thursday. he as the brexit minister whether he had heard ofa girl brexit minister whether he had heard of a girl —— i called charles grant had said the treasury had been fiddling how the figures work. yes,

said the braves upminster. later apologising saying, no i misheard it. i should apologising saying, no i misheard it. ishould have apologising saying, no i misheard it. i should have stepped in and protected civil servants. today in a radio 4 interview, jacob rees mogg was asked about the same issue. did he think that civil servants were fiddling the figures. instead of backing from that suggestion, he double geared. the obr, the office for budget responsibility, was set up by george osborne because treasury forecasts had been politicised. it was thought they were unreliable on political grounds. with the referendum with the eu, the treasury has gone back to making forecasts. it was politically advantageous for them in the past. it's the same now. so, yes, i do think they are fiddling the figures.

i was speaking to lord lamont who is a brexiteer. he would caution his collea g u es a brexiteer. he would caution his colleagues against this. he said there might be an undue bias and an unconscious thing. that goes back to the fear that some people think maybe the political establishment so tied to universal long, instinctively thinks of the worst of the possibility of breaks that. how will the treasury respond? they are not pleased. it is theirjob to be independent. the treasury spokesman has put out a statement to say that both treasury ministers and officials are working hard to deliver the best braves at possible for britain. we will be leaving, but the single market and the customs union and any suggestions to the country is false. it is worth remembering, this week is a big week for brags that. we have several key ministerial meetings. the prime minister has ruled out staying in

the customs union. the european research group, they are vehemently against this. this would be putting pressure. he is an increasingly prominent figure. considering he is only a backbencher and a relatively new one. with that in any way explain what happened yesterday night when he was addressing stu d e nts night when he was addressing students question mark yes, a group of 300 and bristol. there was a lively interjection. it was a bit rough and temple. —— rough—and—tumble. it underlines what a divisive figure he can be. just speaking ina a divisive figure he can be. just speaking in a debate can get a crowd who want to stop him. thank you very much. small businesses affected by the collapse of the construction giant carillion are being offered the chance to apply for government—backed loans from high street lenders. thousands of suppliers were left unpaid, after the firm went into liquidation in last month.

our business correspondent joe lynam reports. britain's second biggest construction company collapsed three weeks ago leaving debts of almost £1 billion and a pensions deficit ofa similaramount. apart from those directly employed at carillion, thousands of smaller suppliers and contractors faced ruin due to unpaid debts. our main oui’ main concerns are our main concerns are those payments are made. contractors and people's livelihoods of the main thing. this obviously impacted on them. now the government is providing guarantees to small firms worth £100 million through the state—backed british business bank. these will allow companies who lost money due to carillion get bank loans. but it also means taxpayers might be on the hook if someone defaults. additionally, the uk banking sector has promised to take the circumstances surrounding carillion into consideration if individuals face problems repaying loans, overdraft or mortgages.

the extent of the damage to the wider uk economy of one firm's collapse is coming into sharp focus. joe lynam, bbc news. earlier i spoke to the leader of the liberal democrats and a business secretary sir vince cable. i asked him for his reaction to this latest development. it is far too late. the government knew about the troubles of 2 million months ago, which is why it was feeding it contracts. it should have been aware there was a supply chain. i setup the british business bank during the coalition. there is a deeper problem here. one of the fallout from carillion is that large numbers of large and medium size companies will go down. it is already happening, it is a crush on slow motion. one of the reasons is carillion was not observing the government requirement that you pay

your supplies. most of these small companies were lending money to carillion. that should never have been tolerated. on this question of taking up the offer. at least one company has told us privately that it will not do it and suspects other companies will not do it. others will be worried that if they are seen will be worried that if they are seen to take up these offers, their customers will then think, their suppliers will think, maybe they are in trouble and it could may be damaged them. there is a confidence issue. the problem is that, you know, you have a complex supply chain, much of which depends on credit worthiness and i can see the problem. but the british business bank was set up several years ago to provide credit to small businesses, it is already doing it, it happens indirectly and other platforms. so i would hope that actually companies ta ke would hope that actually companies take it because that is what is there for.

three men have been charged with murder after the fatal stabbing of a prisoner. khader saleh died on wednesday at wormwood scrubs prison in west london. ahmed kyre, kalif dibbassey and enton marku — all in their early twenties — are due to appear in court next week. oligarchs suspected of corruption will be forced to explain how they fund their luxury lifestyles in britain. the security minister, ben wallace, has told the times that he wants to crackdown on criminals and fraudulent politicians who use britain to launder money gained through corruption. earlier i spoke to dal babu, a former chief superintendent at the metropolitan police. he explained some of the thinking behind the new ‘unexplained wealth orders'. i think what they want to do is establish where people have got their money, and if you have £50,000 or more, that's probably not going to affect the majority of us, then they want to have the opportunity to ask people were they got that money from. actually it could apply a lot lower than oligarchs but that is

really what looking at, people who are the international super wealthy who often choose to live in this country. absolutely. the interview in the times was very much about the oligarchs and the big headline was, "we are coming after you." it would be interesting to see what substance there is nothing this because what we have to remember, there are lots of oligarchs, many of them own football clubs here, many of them are a legitimate business people here, but there is a thread of individuals, if people have been watching the bbc mcmafia series, they will know there are afraid of individuals who are conducting affairs in a sort of unlawful way, and the difficulty is, i was speaking to the cab driver on the way in and he was saying you would be surprised how many people there are, they live a parallel life, huge excesses, huge extravagance. but in terms of what the minister says, what i would be interested in is what resources are put in place. these people are sophisticated individuals. they will have accountants in place. lawyers. lawyers, yes. bitcoins. you trade in bitcoins, that crypto currency,

all of this goes under the radar. i would be very much interested in what resources are in place to deal with this. you mention mcmafia, which a lot of people have seen on bbc one, and the interesting thing about that is that it is based on a factual account by the distinguished journalist misha glenny, and they have fictionalised the stories he uncovered. there is clearly something here. the question is, i suppose, whether this is really about cracking down on the money, following the money, as they say, whether there is some politics in this. clearly there are more tensions now with russia and there have been for many years with britain, and you could argue that people have lived here for many years, completely unmolested by the system because, in a sense, the british didn't really want to pick a fight with russia. are we a bit more interested, do you think, picking a fight with russia? it is a sword sword, because on one hand as we look at brexit, as we leave the second—biggest world market, we need to be looking

at how we trade elsewhere. on the one hand they want to be open to russia and on the other hand they want to be standing up and saying, "you can't ride roughshod here." we have seen putin has done that across the world. so i think it is very interesting what actually happens here. the headlines on bbc news: the head of the fbi has defended its work after a classified and abuse of power. after getting caught in a scuffle with protesters last night, conservative mpjacob rees—mogg accuses the treasury of ‘fiddling' its figures on brexit. the government has announced a package of financial support for small companies affected by the collapse of the outsourcing firm, carillion. northamptonshire county council has imposed emergency spending controls as it faces

"severe financial challenges". the notice bans all new expenditure at the council, with the exception of statutory services for protecting vulnerable people. last month the government said an inspector would look into allegations of financial failings at the authority. it is believed to be the first such notice issued in more than 20 years. jeremy corbyn has been speaking actors pa rty‘s local cover jeremy corbyn has been speaking actors party's local cover meant beating. this conservative government has set her public services spiralling into crisis. after nearly eight years of conservative government, councils of lost 15% of their funding from central government. and yesterday we found that tory run northamptonshire council is effectively bankrupt. what more evidence do we need? austerity is unleashing kiosks

across our austerity is unleashing kiosks across oui’ country. austerity is unleashing kiosks across our country. squeezing our local authorities and putting jobs and the vital services they deliver at risk. with me is tony travers, professor at the department of government at the london school of economics and an expert in local government. in particular in the financing of local government. northamptonshire have lost 50% of their central government funding. is that true? it is true central government funding. they have income from it council tax and business rate, that has continued to rise relatively. the overall spending is probably less than 50%, but it is still a big change. because of that many councils find themselves near the edge and the question of which councils get to the edge first. northamptonshire seem to have done

that first. is there anything particular about northamptonshire and it circumstances to explain why they have found themselves in this situation? one of the reasons the leader is giving, northamptonshire had a relatively low council tax take. it was baked into the system by capping, they have been capped for years. it is hard to increase at now. i think northamptonshire does have relatives will take from council tax. against that you have to seek the neighbouring authorities, many of which are not in radically different circumstances, i think the investigation that the housing secretary has put in place will reveal some of this. we will find out more. it is a conservative run council, it is not grateful to have two argue with their own party leaders about how they are running local authorities. the broader message about this, what do you

think it is it about the stability of local government financing? we have seen councils now under these pressures we re have seen councils now under these pressures were eight years, much more than any part of the public sector. the question is how much more can that goal, the government has protected the nhs, protected welfare for most of our pensions, that has put extra pressure on council services. they have had to step in with adult social care. i think the risk here is that if the government goes on pushing local government goes on pushing local government spending down, we will get more of these northamptonshire ta ke get more of these northamptonshire take cases. if it can happen to conservative run authorities, it is easy for ajeremy conservative run authorities, it is easy for a jeremy corbyn to pick it up easy for a jeremy corbyn to pick it up and have political blood with it. —— political fun with up and have political blood with it. —— politicalfun with it. lady gaga has cancelled the last ten dates of the european leg of her world tour, because of "severe pain". shows in london and manchester are among those affected. in a statement posted on twitter

she said she was devastated, but needed to put herself and her well—being first. the singer has fibromyalgia, a long—term condition which can cause pain all over the body. joining me now via webcam is the music business journalist eamonn forde. i should say business broadcaster. let's put aside the health condition. let's leave aside the frustration for fans. what is the bill for something like this? frustration for fans. what is the bill for something like this7m will not have been taken lightly. with any major tour like this, they have insurance for cancellations. when you are going on a world tour that might stretch more than 18 months. this will all have to have an independently verified health check. it is an incredibly draining

experience for artists and terms of the performance on stage all —— every night. around that is the huge infrastructure, hundreds of people involved in the show. there is a lot at risk. they will have to mitigate against that with insurance. it will have a knock—on effect for other insurance, basically increasing the premium. no one would go on to in this day and age without having full insurance to compensate our cover when things unfortunately like this happen, which are incredibly rare amongst artists who can fill their obligations incredibly rare for an artist to cancel a tour or reasons like this. what are the consequences note the next time someone likes to get insurance. will the effectively

be asking for more money? they absolutely will. it is like car insurance. if you have a no claims bonus against your insurance, that is good. but if you're in an accident, your premium will go up. she will be in shareable. every artist is an shareable. but they will be taking special notice of the health issues. she will not want to go on tourfor so health issues. she will not want to go on tour for so long. health issues. she will not want to go on tourfor so long. i think the insurers will demand possibly to independent medical reports to ensure that this kind of thing would not happen again. i am sure that she would not kind of want to put herself in a position of risk.|j think ourfans herself in a position of risk.|j think our fans would not want that for her either. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. good morning. the choirs are gathering for their last rehearsal, faces are being painted and the fans are starting to meet for a first drink or two, all around the centre of cardiff, ahead of the big kick—off in this season's six nations.

and in three hours' time, wales and scotland will be getting stuck into each other. and our sports correspondent joe wilson won't be able to hear himself think. it's injury ravaged wales, trying to bring down scotland in buoyant mood. where will this one be lost and won? what a good question. here we are indoors at the principality ‘s stadium. the roof is on here and there are plenty of loudspeakers, as you have already indicated. they will be tested over the next hour or so. we know why wheels want the roof closed, every anthem and every song and every song —— scheme will be intensified here. as you said, this is an experimental looking welsh side. they rely heavily on this

player in their starting 15. it will be different from the team they have seen here. one of the key questions is whether one of the new players and the welsh team will be inspired or overwhelmed by the six nations atmosphere in cardiff. jonathan davies, no sign of him today. many of those experienced players who have been key to the success in the past are not here. let's turn our attention to scotland. the scottish players will be quite happy that the reviewer is on. it means that if we do get any rain outside, the pitching year will stay firm and it will stay quick. when it comes running, attacking, unpredictable by, running, attacking, unpredictable rugby, that is what scotland go for. they have the outstanding running player in world rugby. scotland come here having competed with the best in the southern high atmosphere and beaten australia twice. ——

hemisphere. it is easy to be optimistic in the six nations before a ball is kicked and tackle is made. england going for a third straight championship, ireland being favoured by some. i was talking to the irish captain a couple of weeks ago in the build—up to the six nations. he can remember times in france when they are 20 points down. i do not know if that will happen today. as far as england are concerned, i think in a lot of ways eddiejones are concerned, i think in a lot of ways eddie jones is are concerned, i think in a lot of ways eddiejones is building up to the 2019 world cup. he wants to see what kind of strength in depth he has. there will be more tests to come, notably in edinburgh against scotland. it will be likely to come to the final game in the six

nations, but today, whoever wins this match today, scotland and wales, they can leave this arena thinking maybe we have a chance to win the six nations this year. great stuff. wales versus scotland kicks everything off at 2:15pm. you can watch it on bbc one. therefore france versus ireland. that is live on bbc one. there's a spring in the step of the british david cup team, ahead of today's doubles rubber, in spain against spain. jamie murray and dominic inglot, play with the tie at 1—1. it followed the heroics of debutant cameron norrie, who produced the performance of his life to beat, roberto bautista agut, who's 91 places higher in the world rankings. he only turned professional last june and this was his first ever professional match on red clay. andy murray tweeted this was one of best results ever. ijust looked at my forehand the whole match and thought i was tougher than the guy through the whole match. physically had some problems

in the end but i was really pumped with my efforts, it's given me lots of confidence. my first match on clay so i'm just stoked. that's all the sport for now. there is a lot of cloud event, that has been producing outbreaks of rain. there is snow on higher ground because the cloudy and damp weather comes courtesy of this weather front which is running into some pretty cool day. so as well as the rain, they will continue to be some snow mixed in on higher ground, particularly northwards as we go through the afternoon. all the while, this area of wet weather will tend to fizzle away. eastern scotland, cloudy and damp through the afternoon. snow on higher ground. across scotland and northern ireland, bright with some sunshine. some scattered showers as well.

cumbria, and only eastern side of england and midlands, it will be cloudy with damp weather, three degrees in birmingham. sherry rain for wales and the south west but a few brighter glimpses in between. as we go through this evening and overnight, this area of cloud and hill snow will then drift its way westwards, further wintry showers pushing in from the north sea and with temperatures dipping away close to freezing, there will be a touch of frost and there will be some icy stretches to take us into tomorrow morning. so actually start to the day here, but in large parts of continental europe it will be a good deal cold. i mention that because as this area of high—pressure bills down from scandinavia, we will be importing airfrom down from scandinavia, we will be importing air from the down from scandinavia, we will be importing airfrom the new continent. in the shape of this strong and bitterly cold north—easterly wind, which will affect southern even years and bring

wintry showers. elsewhere, largely dry. lighter winds further north, but where we have that strong wind, add that on to the temperatures. this is what it will feel like in norwich, feeling let freezing on sunday afternoon. monday brings a continuation of those strong winds, a lot of dry weather around. this frontal system in the north—west will bring some snow to northern ireland and scotland. through the coming week, it will stay cold with widespread overnight frosts and the chance some snow at times. welcome to dateline london. this week, we're discussing theresa may in china, trying to increase trade before brexit, whilst trading blows with the european union, and even some of her own colleagues. donald trump delivered his first state of the union address at the end of his first year as us president. he vowed to end the era of "economic surrender in trade" — who does he mean? and is it a bad business for the middle east if military leadership is on the rise again?

with me are bronwen maddox, british political commentator, abdel bari atwan, who writes on arab affairs, italian writer and film maker anna—lisa piras, and stephanie bakerfrom bloomberg markets. in china, they were calling her "auntie may", but back here in the uk, she's more an "aunt sally", the target in a long vanished game at whom players threw things in an attempt to knock it down. her absence from westminster was marked by yet another round of rumours suggesting time is running out for her premiership. there was a toy that used to be advertised with the tag line, "weebles wobble but they don't fall down." theresa may doesn't, either. why not? she was there for a reason, she is one of a few figures, possibly the only one in the cabinet at this point that can bridge both sides of

brexit.