critics are meeting new to decide whether they should press for critics are meeting now to decide whether they should press for a leadership contest and i can tell you their leader, jacob rees—mogg, has announced that he has submitted a letter calling for a leadership contest. that will be seen by many asa contest. that will be seen by many as a green light to the brexiteers to press for a contest to topple mrs may. now, idescribed to press for a contest to topple mrs may. now, i described the prime minister rotherham bit of a tough one earlier, apologies for that rather language, but mrs may's demise has been predicted many times before and she's always managed to battle through. maybe she'll manage again, but she is facing an almighty challenge, not just to again, but she is facing an almighty challenge, notjust to her brexit deal, but perhaps even to her survival as prime minister. thank you very much, norman smith with the latest. let's go back to then in the studio. it's time for the latest weather forecast and chris fawkes has got that for us this afternoon. it's a mixed picture this afternoon,

some areas have rain, some areas clouding of the south but in glorious sunshine across more central portions, this was the scene over the cumbrian lakes and hour or so ago. changes afoot with the weather. we have southerly winds dragging in mild air and across northern scotland are at 17 degrees but battle commences. the atlantic lo bs but battle commences. the atlantic lobs a load of warm air at the arctic and the arctic retaliates with a surge of cold air pushing into the heart of europe, which then spreads to the united kingdom. towards the middle of next week temperatures will be around 6—7dc. it is set to get much colder. before we get there the satellite picture tells a story quite nicely today's weather, with a thick cloud in the north—west. that's a weather front and it will bring rain, quite heavy for a time and it will bring rain, quite heavy fora time in and it will bring rain, quite heavy for a time in northern ireland. the wet weather pushing into western scotland. further south, low wet weather pushing into western

scotland. furthersouth, low cloud across southern counties of england for most of the rest of the day. still plenty of sunshine in other areas as the rain moves into the northwest. temperatures, across the board on the mild side thanks to southerly winds. highs between 12-15. southerly winds. highs between 12—15. up to southerly winds. highs between 12-15. up to 17 southerly winds. highs between 12—15. up to 17 across parts of northern scotland, where it is particularly mild. overnight our wet weather moves away from northern ireland. the front teases across scotland, weakens, still potentially bringing drizzle across the southern uplands stop england and wales having a lot of cloud, quite low cloud. there will be mist ryan hill fog patches dotted around. for visit will be a murky start to friday morning. friday the low cloud will be with us for much of the day. it's more extensive, moving northwards with time. there will be holes in the cloud. some sunny spells. the best of these in west wales, northern areas of scotland should hang onto some decent sunshine and temperatures coming down a little bit. we are on the mild side for the time of year, highs between 12—15. looking at the weekend the big area of high pressure starts to move into

scandinavia. the colder air works into europe and ultimately the winds tends to an easterly direction across the uk. what that means this weekend if there's going to be a lot of dry weather with some sunshine around, but it will start to get cooler through saturday and sunday. the really cold air is not making its presence felt until the middle of the week ahead. so change is afoot. we are going to lose the mild weather we have got at the moment and the weather is set to call down over the weekend and turn significantly colder as we head into the week ahead. that's the latest weather. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. theresa may loses four of her ministers, two of them from the cabinet, over her draft brexit deal, as she also faces a grilling in parliament. and that is all from the bbc news that one, so it's goodbye from me and on bbc one now we'll join the bbc news teams where you are. have a very good afternoon. and welcome back to our continuing

coverage from westminster of what has been a tumultuous morning and afternoon so far for theresa may. she is tenacious and certainly has stamina. she is still talking in the house of commons as i speak to you. but not everybody is still in the house of commons listening to her, and members of the european research group, the conservative backbench group, the conservative backbench group supporting brexit, which is deeply unhappy with the withdrawal deal, the draft deal, they have been meeting. i will show you a live shot of saint stephen's gate, where we expect jacob of saint stephen's gate, where we expectjacob rees—mogg, of saint stephen's gate, where we expect jacob rees—mogg, prominent amongst the pro brexit members, to make an appearance soon. and he has submitted a letter of no confidence

in theresa may to the 1922 committee, the backbench committee led by sirgraham committee, the backbench committee led by sir graham brady, and if it receives enough of those letters of no confidence, it will trigger a vote of no—confidence in the prime minister. downing street says this lunchtime theresa may will stay and fight any confidence vote. this day began with the resignation of a minister in the northern ireland office, but then just before nine o'clock it was this resignation by dominic raab, the brexit secretary, who said he could not in good conscience support the agreement hammered out with the eu, even though he was deeply involved in hammering out that agreement. it was his resignation that really started the day off in the worst possible way for theresa may. you can see a tweet from dominic raab saying he has resigned... and his resignation was followed by

that of the work and pensions secretary esther mcvey, who said in her resignation letter that the deal does not honour the result of the referendum. two junior miss ministers have quit as well, the northern ireland minister shailesh va ra northern ireland minister shailesh vara in remain supporter and dominic raab‘sjunior vara in remain supporter and dominic raab‘s junior minister suella braverman went as well from the brexit department. and another member of the government, trevelyan, a secretary and department for education, has stepped down. we'll might be the end of the resignations today? that is a question we don't know the answer to. dominic raab has been speaking exclusively to our political editor about his decision this morning to stand down as brexit secretary. here is what he had to say.

iam fighting say. i am fighting for a good brexit deal but the terms proposed to the cabinet yesterday have two major and fatal flaws, the first that the terms offered by the eu threaten the integrity of the uk and the second is that they would lead to a indefinite or permanent situation where we are locked into a regime with no say of the rules or laws being applied, with no exit. that would be damaging for the economy and devastating for public democracy. the prime minister says that is not the case and this deal avoids both those things. i appreciate we have different views, so she needs a brexit secretary who would put the deal she wa nts to secretary who would put the deal she wants to give to the country with conviction and i could not do that in good conscience. i respect and think she should continue but we need to take a change of the course of brexit. we have heard from the chief whip of the government gillian smith since the government gillian smith since the resignations and he told reporters the prime minister will not be bullied change course. ——

julian smith. we have a deal on the premise has done a brilliantjob of the negotiating team, with the november council... the premise a moving things on in the best interest of the country, families, jobs, frictionless trade, commitments made in respect of the referendum. it is a very major decision at the cabinet yesterday... not everybody will agree with the prime minister is absolutely determined to make sure this country and government delivers on brexit, and the best interests of the country, and make sure we protect jobs and family the country, and make sure we protectjobs and family income for the united kingdom. well there be... it isa the united kingdom. well there be... it is a difficult policy decision and it will be tough on the premise that but she will not be bullied or change course. the government will

get a definite decision back from the eu and look forward to getting our hands on it. the scottish secretary david mundell has been speaking to our scotland political correspondent david porter and criticising those in today's cabinet resignation saying he is not impressed by their actions. and disappointed colleagues have resigned. we had a full and frank discussion at the cabinet yesterday andi discussion at the cabinet yesterday and i thought we abided by collective responsibility, and people maybe have reservations about the deal but they signed up to it on that collective basis and i would have hoped they would have stood with the prime minister as we move through this next stage of the process , through this next stage of the process, taking it to the european council, then coming back to cabinet. cabinet hopefully being in a position to recommend it to mps for a meaningful vote. for the avoidance of doubt, what is your position? are you remaining as secretary of state for scotland? i'm clear that i should remain as secretary of state for scotland and it is an important time. we must ensure scotland leaves the eu on the

basis of a deal. i believe that a no deal situation is disastrous for scotland, disastrous for the uk. i wa nt to scotland, disastrous for the uk. i want to deploy all my efforts in ensuring that we do have a deal. of course, i have concerns. iwant ensuring that we do have a deal. of course, i have concerns. i want to make sure, as was made clear yesterday for example, as part of any deal, we are leaving the common fisheries policy. i also don't want to see any threat to the united kingdom. but as someone who has stood steadfastly up for our union, for keeping scotland in the uk, i am not going to take lectures from latter—day unionists, now using it asa latter—day unionists, now using it as a hook on which to hang... we pull away from that cut because jacob rees—mogg from that group has emerged from a meeting. proper procedures of the conservative party were a policy that has come forward does not mean what we promised voters... the conservative party referendum on which almost all conservative mps stood said specifically that we

would leave the customs union. it did not have any small print saying, u nless we did not have any small print saying, unless we decide to have a backstop thatis unless we decide to have a backstop that is a prominent customs union, that is a prominent customs union, thatis that is a prominent customs union, that is harder to leave by leaving the european union under article 50. it sounds and looks like a coup! a coup is where you use military procedures to overturn someone in office. this is working through the procedures of the conservative party, entirely constitutional, and a coup is the wrong word. what has been achieved today is not brexit and it provides... inaudible question the law to leave has been passed and the withdrawal act is through but what we need is a leader who will say to the european union it is impossible to divide up the united kingdom and impossible to agree to a situation where we have a perpetual

customs union. it is impossible to pay £39 billion of taxpayer money for a few promises, which was meant to be £39 billion for an implementation of a deal, and it is impossible for us to allow the continuing jurisdiction of the european court of justice. continuing jurisdiction of the european court ofjustice. the problem is that the negotiations have given away on all the key points. i don't think that's correct. we will have to wait and see. this is self-indulgent. .. inaudible question it is nothing to do with the ambition of brexiteers but ambition of brexit and the country. leaving the eu is a fantastic opportunity for the uk enemies we have the opportunity of setting lower tariffs, cheaper food, clothing opportunity of setting lower tariffs, cheaperfood, clothing and footwear and helping the least well

off in society. this opportunity is being thrown away. if you look at the deal, our tariffs will be set by the deal, our tariffs will be set by the european union and it would be illegal to offer lower harris. this is not brexit but a failure of government policy and needs to be rejected. nothing to do with personal ambition. do you think you would make a better leader than theresa may? the deal risks brexit because it is not a proper brexit... we have a question from a present from the times. would you make a better leader than theresa may? iam not theresa may? i am not offering my name and it is nothing to do with me. it is about believing the deal does not work and having no confidence in the leader. you now say the consequence of this could be we crashed out of the eu, a

massive risk? we have heard project fear again and again, on and on it goes, but all the aspects of project fear so far have been wrong. we were - a have been wrong. we were promised a punishment budget that never happened. we were promised an increase of unemployment by 800,000 by voting to leave and that did not happen. we trade with other countries on world trade organisation rules and it takes six seconds for goods to be cleared at southampton and we do not need to trade on anything other than wto rules and that will be an economic success and we will be free to determine our own future. democracy will win. hang on, let's have order. we have plenty of time. would you make a better leader than theresa may? who worked? theresa may? who worked? there are many, many talented people. who would you like me to

start with? boris johnson, people. who would you like me to start with? borisjohnson, david davis, dominic raab and esther mcvey, strings of talent within the conservative party would be capable of leading a proper brexit. we have got to have the telegraph. would you say... one of the problems was having a remainder and i recognise that co nve rse remainder and i recognise that converse misers will need to be made but the difficulty with having a remainder is people feel the compromises are made in a remain direction rather than in a leave direction. it is too late and you can't write a letter of no confidence and company decision you have no confidence of the many, many months and then wake up the next morning and say it was a dream and i never did it. no, no. man yelling my

my final decision after the statement this morning but i came to the conclusion this was likely after reading the papers. man yelling man yells: stop brexit! we will move to world trade organisation terms and we will operate on that basis. the basis on which we operate with the rest of the world. they are in mind, only 7% of the well‘s abolition lives in the eu so our dealings with the rest of the world are very important. it would be sensible to make a generous offer to the eu, a generous offer on eu nationals‘ rights in this country. one money for a transition implementation period, so i think there are things we could offer and it would be wise to above. to follow—up on why is the eu going

to give you a deal, or whoever your new leader is, deal that they would not give to theresa may? and it wouldn't give it to david davis? i don‘t think dominic raab and david davis had much sense... they were out negotiated? it was being run by downing street and we know that and you will remember written ministerial state m e nts remember written ministerial statements that out injuly remember written ministerial statements that out in july that made clear the negotiations were being run from downing street by the cabinet office. they were not in charge of them. we did not ask the right things. we asked for this customs union backstop and the british government asked to tyres in this ridiculous customs union backstop. if you can speak up a little bit? 48 letters haven't been sent to graham brady... not by the end to day but if nobody else follows that might if you lay people and everybody hides in a covered, it will not be a great position to be in. —— if you lead

people. i think the letters will go on but no timeframe. who do you think should be the next prime minister? —— brexit secretary. there is no point in a brexit secretary when it is being run from downing street. stop brexit! obviously not. i‘m so sorry. stop brexit! save britain! stop brexit! you need to clean your spectacles. secondly, we are a democracy and that‘s why the splendid people can shout away because we believe in the right to free protest and that man isa right to free protest and that man is a great man. he was by birmingham and he is everywhere and that is what democracy is about. you make your case and then you have the vote

and you accept the result. many, many people of the 48%, as shown by opinion polls, except the result even though they did not like it. that is the nobility of our democracy and that what we have voted for it should be implemented and the prime minister is not doing that and that is why i have no confidence. look straight at chris and we will get a photograph. i think it can be done quickly and the parliamentary processes can be sped up, and there are nine the conservative party now has a list of members at central office and does not have to go around the country asking who the members are. not months but i think weeks. unrealistic to be faster than that. of course people can change their mind but how do they indicate they have changed their mind? we have a system and we know perfectly well that we got this referendum because it was a manifesto commitment in a general election. we then had the referendum and we then had a general

election where both main parties recommitted to the referendum result. of course, if there were to bea result. of course, if there were to be a general election, and the party we re be a general election, and the party were to stand on the platform saying they wanted to reverse the result, that would be democratic. for there to bea that would be democratic. for there to be a cabal, a coup, an attempt to overturn the vote without any of that happening, it would undermine peoples trust and belief in democracy. stop brexit! inaudible question stop brexit! people always call for unity when the policy they follow is wrong. it is the standard talk of conservatives when they know there is failure in the air. shame on you! are we done? thank you very much. shame on you! it would show a light summer of

people... jacob rees—mogg outside the palace of westminster, the leader of the brexiteer european research group of tory mps, and he has handed in a letter to the 1922 committee chairman expressing no confidence in theresa may as leader. now, with 48 tory mps if they write similar letters a leadership contest is triggered. we don‘t yet know how many have been sent to graham brady but jacob many have been sent to graham brady butjacob rees—mogg just many have been sent to graham brady but jacob rees—mogg just saying, denying this was a coup against theresa may because he said this is being done through constitutional procedures of the party. a coup is when you do not use proper procedures. he said this is nothing to do with personal ambition. he is not offering himself as leader. he was saying there are plenty of other people from the brexit side of the party who would be a good leader. he mentioned people like dominic raab

and penny mordant as well. we go to our chief political correspondent vicky young, who has been listening to that. the question is, how many other tory mps like jacob rees—mogg have sent letters expressing their lack of confidence in theresa may on whether a leadership contest is going to be triggered in the coming days? to remind people that 48 letters are days? to remind peopl is hat 48 letters are days? to remind peopl is 48 48 letters are days? to remind peopl is 48 conservative e needed and that is 48 conservative mps which would trigger a vote of no—confidence in her. to be clear, that vote of confidence is held amongst conservative mps only. it is amongst conservative mps only. it is a secret ballot. we understand that the man who these letters, sir graham brady, he has been in to see the party‘s chief whip, the person in charge of party discipline and he has told him so far that those letters are has told him so far that those letters a re not has told him so far that those letters are not there but we are hearing from various sources, from our political quarters around the

country, of mps in their patch you are putting those letters in. i think most people think it will be pretty surprising if jacob rees—mogg, seen as a senior backbencher on the brexit side, that he would put his letter in ankle for this if there were not going to be quite a few and following him. we will have to wait and see if that happens but today has clearly been tumultuous for the prime minister and she has left here after standing in the house of commons for over two hours taking questions on her proposed brexit deal, but one which did not get much support at all from those in the house and it looks very difficult to see notjust how she might be able to survive, because thatis might be able to survive, because that is still possible, but the idea of her plan getting to parliament is looking pretty tricky, given she does not have the support of the democratic unionist party or labour or many on her own side. so very, very difficult day to be prime minister. and there have been rumblings and

murmurings for some time about various tory mps writing letters of no confidence to sir graham brady but you suggest that this intervention now from jacob rees—mogg could be pivotal, couldn‘t it? he is very influential. he is the leader of the european research group. he is in a sense the leader of the brexiteer tory backbenchers. if he is sending in a letter, others may follow. i think so and obviously this is the point now, where it comes back and they read that document and looked through it, and they decided it is not enough. as they decided it is not enough. as they said, this is not brexit in any sense at all he said. we have to see whether others follow her. the problem now for the prime minister is he has not —— she does notjust have brexiteers you don‘t want her deal but she has some on the other

side. having said that, and porting to say there are loyalists to think the idea of a leadership contest would be not a good idea. the worst kind of pending possible when she is in the middle of this incredibly difficult negotiation. she has made it clear she has gone as far as she thinks she can go and telling people to be realistic about it and say you cannot get everything you want, and there are some in the party on the remain said of the argument to say this is the reality and this is brexiteers finally realising you cannot have all the good side and upsides of the european union without any other responsibilities. they say this was almost inevitable. given today she has lost two cabinet ministers, there are rumours about others as well and this decision now for them i think is, what do they do? do they stick with the deal they have got and also what are the alternatives? this is within the question and the question ijust asked jacob rees—mogg, what would a new leader with the same parliamentary arithmetic be able to achieve that theresa may has not?

there does not seem to be any kind of majority in the house of commons for a no deal scenario, and certainly there are many mps who think it would be catastrophic for the country and they will do everything they can to stop that scenario. there is not seem to be a majority for another referendum or any other kind of membership of the european economic area or something similar. it doesjust european economic area or something similar. it does just feel that there is potentially stalemate and thatis there is potentially stalemate and that is what theresa may was trying to get through. she has got this document and says thousands of hours of negotiations to get to it, and downing street would say the idea you can just go downing street would say the idea you canjust go back downing street would say the idea you can just go back to the eu and say, actually, can you do some thing better and start again, it will not happen. thank you very much. metaphorical storm clouds gathering possibly for the prime minister at westminster. now we look at the weather around the united kingdom. as far as the weather goes, we are seeing significant changes as we look at

the forecast through the weekend and into next week. for the time being, the weather is pretty mild across the weather is pretty mild across the country with decent sunshine across northern england and the midlands and wales. cloud in the south and rain approaching the north—west, sovereign of no one in the west of scotland, whether turning wet, but where it is mild... temperatures for northern scotland at 17 celsius. above normalfor the time of year. that warrant issuing right into the heart of the arctic and what happens next is the arctic retaliates with cold are spreading into europe and that will seep in through the united kingdom. next week, average is around six or seven celsius. you will notice the change. for most of us the weather is pretty mild at the moment. you can see the extent of the cloud to the north west uk and a streak of cloud is a weather front bringing rain to northern ireland this afternoon. rain turning heavy for a time before spreading into western scotland. they sell a lot of dry weather that same clarity and the rest of the sunshine across the north midlands.

northern wells, northern england and eastern areas of scotland... the rain getting into the west of scotland, progressively through the next hours. the rain turns happy. my old and coverage is this afternoon between 12 and 15 celsius, 17 celsius and the north of scotland. weather picture evening and overnight, rain pushing eastwards. never leaves southern scotland and still there but very weak. probably a few spots of drizzle on that feature across the southern upwards, lasting into friday, got across england and wales as well with mist and hill fog patches. clearer skies for scotland and northern ireland are turning cold in the countryside with a few patches of frost. for friday a lot of cloud around generally across the uk and others like more extensive and pushing further northwards as well. bright spots in northern parts of scotland with decent sunshine, and also there will be breaks in cloud at times for west wales and north—west england and northern areas of northern ireland. mild but not as warm as it has been today. into the weekend we

see changes as high pressure moves into scandinavia, and we start to change the wind direction so we get more of a south east and then an easterly wind blowing in, and that will dump the temperatures. saturday and sunday it is turning cooler temperatures posted to average for the time of year but the cold air does not arise until the middle of next week, when many will be looking at temperatures of around six or seven celsius. it will get much, much colder. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live, i‘m simon mccoy. today at 2: theresa may under pressure after a string of ministerial resignations over her brexit deal. the brexit secretary, dominic raab has gone, as well as the work and pensions secretary, esther mcvey. this was amid speculation over a leadership challenge. she needs a brexit secretary that will precede the deal she wants to be to the country. with conviction, i don‘t think i can do that. i respect her

and held it in high esteem, but i think we need to change course on brexit. the prime minister faces criticism from all sides in parliament as she warns that voting against the deal would put the country "back to square one". it would mean more uncertainty, more division, and a failure to deliver on the division of the british people that we should leave the eu. if we get behind a deal, we can