this down. the only fact we have, and we don't even have that confirmed on the record but it has come from our political editor, is that sir graham brady has requested a meeting at downing street. as a former tory insider and someone street. as a former tory insider and someone who remains very well—connected in the party, what is the significance of that? could it not just be a the significance of that? could it notjust be a meeting about something else? it is possible in theory that it would be a meeting about something else, but sir graham brady knows, given everyone's interest. how all of us would report it. and unscheduled meeting suddenly and the prime minister's diary a day or two after the prime minister was really humiliated in the house of commons by having to cancel the vote on herflagship defining piece of legislation, there is only one reason why this meeting is happening. i know the bbc political editor has said it is happening, i have had independent confirmation this meeting is happening. so, we cani this meeting is happening. so, we can i think pretty well assume that the prime minister will face a leadership challenge. of course she

now has to have a vote where over half of her tory mps would either approve her leadership or reject it, so approve her leadership or reject it, so it is not inevitable that she's going to be ousted, but a contest i think is inevitable. we are talking about something happening relatively quickly. the next two or three days i think. what do you make i mean obviously that differing papers have to go to press often when stories are developing, and this happened relatively late in the evening, but the guardian headline is not a bad pass at that. she's got lots of smiles and plenty of those in the photographs, but as they used to say, they don't. .. that is absolutely right. the guardian has this lovely array of pictures of her absolutely on a great neck tour around the eu. and i think they're going to be as helpful as they can whilst still being completely clear there is no room for an renegotiations, so it's a nice photo shoot will do, angela merkel came

out to greet theresa may as a she got out of her car, unfortunately theresa may found herself locked in that car, so it all became rather awkward and uncomfortable. she might have wished she stayed in her car stopped and she could stay there for several weeks. i think for a lot there are echoes of margaret thatcher, who was toppled, were not quite because in fact she won the no—confidence vote in her, but by not enough of a margin for her to feel that she could stay on, whilst she was basically the vultures circled her, a line we will come onto from the mail whilst she was away in europe. so in fact it sort of feels like such an echo of history and potentially a comeuppance for theresa may.|j history and potentially a comeuppance for theresa may. i am not sure theresa may is quite a margaret thatcher. , but even that. the echo is there, which then begs the comparison. about it being

europe as well. one of the differences is people always knew where margaret thatcher stood. he liked her or you loathe her, but you knew where she stood. i think the problem with theresa may's latest round of going around europe is i don't think europe really knows what she wants, and if they were to say give her something on the backstop, whether this would actually make a difference in the vote on the house of commons, and now of course they don't even know whether theresa may is going to be around for much longer. it is very hard for the european leaders to deal with her, i think, given all of these uncertainties. one of the reasons why i think a leadership contest is welcomed, he's even if she wins, at least this issue of her position... or least this issue of her position... 0r30 least this issue of her position... or 30 -- least this issue of her position... or30 —— her least this issue of her position... or 30 —— her authority. least this issue of her position... or 30 -- her authority. either she is reaffirmed as tory leader and prime in the store we get someone in fresh who could really restart peace talks. i think it is good this issue... something you wanted to pick up from the guardian story. one

thing here is this meeting with sir graham brady is after the prime ministers questions, so she has to go through that extraordinary confrontation. it is supposed to be having our bed these days confrontation. it is supposed to be having our bed these dastohn be rcow having our bed these dastohn bercow let it run on 45 minutes sometimes. —— but these days he lets it run on. we will see what happens tomorrow, but she has got to get through that 45 minute period, and then go into the meeting. i do not envy her that. it could be her final prime ministers questions. let's move to the daily telegraph. this is a reference to owen paterson. some might be surprised that people like him haven't done so before because he isa him haven't done so before because he is a consisting eurosceptic, he was a close ally of iain duncan smith when he was leader of the conservative party. he has made no secret of his position on brexit, and one would have thought people

like him would have lost patience with the prime minister's strategy a while ago. when iain duncan smith as leader was ousted, all it was his right—hand man. iwas leader was ousted, all it was his right—hand man. i was working with them at the time. —— owen wilson was his right—hand man. it was encoded —— incredibly breathing process. it isa —— incredibly breathing process. it is a form of public humiliation to be ousted by either your own party in the full glare of the spotlight and owen paterson has been one of the people like iain duncan smith himself who have drag their feet in the idea of wanting to challenge theresa may for some time, and i think it is because of their experience of knowing how horrible it is. owen paterson keep the intervention he has really does show that the patient‘s of large parts of the party who have given theresa may the party who have given theresa may the benefit of the doubt for a long time had run out. laura coombs brand has just tweeted the government chief whip is inside number ten now as we speak with the prime minister, presumably there will be a lot of

discussions about how she should handle tomorrow, not least how she should handle herself at the dispatch box. absolutely, because she puts any feet wrong and it is going to be in kindly difficult for her to going to be in kindly difficult for herto win going to be in kindly difficult for her to win that no—confidence vote that we now assume is going to happen. it is interesting, that we know a couple of weeks ago they were so know a couple of weeks ago they were so confident they have those 48 letters, earlier today there were i’uitioui's letters, earlier today there were rumours circulating they were threatening to kind of out the list of people who had told them privately that they had written a letter, because they felt there was such an inconsistency between the numberof such an inconsistency between the number of people who told them they had written them and the fact they had written them and the fact they had not gotten over 48 because they probably had 55 or 60 names and they wanted to embarrass those people into genuinely putting in a letter. that level of hostility, mistrust and just outright nastiness really does not i think bode well for the

party being able to hold together because any kind of leadership election will maintain those sets of division. the mail captures that and the position has changed dramatically after a change of editor in the sense of its enthusiasm, brexit has become a lot more measured and its support for theresa may a bit more explicit in describing them as the vultures. this i think is going to be a widespread feeling, and i think she's absolutely right. but the conservative party is in danger of looking like the nasty party that theresa may famously described it as a decade or two ago. i don't think it is inevitable, i think it is a 50-50 it is inevitable, i think it is a 50—50 whether she will be ousted. herb performance tomorrow at the dispatch box will be quite important. important, buti dispatch box will be quite important. important, but i think people know a lot —— another daughterfor it people know a lot —— another daughter for it to not make a huge difference. i think the fact is if it was just a vote on whether or not you liked recently she would lose, but i think people if for example the betting markets are moving in

favour of boris johnson tonight, the betting markets are moving in favour of borisjohnson tonight, i think if people think if he is going to be the leader there'll be some tory mps who are anti—theresa may but more anti—johnson. tory mps who are anti—theresa may but more anti-johnson. and actually however reluctantly vote for theresa may. i think what we are seeing from the daily mail and ethically think we will see is the signal that she needs to put out quietly through friends that actually she knows she will not be around to fight for very much longer, but she just wants to finish thejob of much longer, but she just wants to finish the job of brexit and that actually to change horses in the middle of a negotiation could actually be damaging to the national interest. i think it is slightly different from that but then again i'm quite offended on brexit, her best messages we all know that brexit is going to be —— quite a cynic on record, it'll be at best a slightly symbolic endorsement. what you want for me —— is to take the flack for all of that so that a fresh prime minister is not blamed for all of the compromises and mess of brexit and can then potentially wina general of brexit and can then potentially win a general election when it comes in 2022, and i think whether she

would think it that way worth say it that way, there are certainly lots of people who would quite like to be prime minister who would quite like to be prime minister after all this brexit mass is dealt with.|j to be prime minister after all this brexit mass is dealt with. i do think that is around assessment where a lot of the tory parliamentary party as well as i think this is her problem, a little bit like she is always —— has always been brexit as at best damaging. because it is. but it is not. a lot of us brexiteers see a lot of opportunity in brexit as well like the trade. the possible line is the next tory leader has to be someone who can't seem to be someone who voted for brexit and believe in brexit. otherwise this whole enterprise is not worth it, and there was a poll today from lord ashcroft of british citizens and ending free movement is the fifth priority, much more important is free trade deals with the rest of the world. there is a positive side to brexit, but because we have someone in number ten and number 11 who do not really believe in it, thatis who do not really believe in it, that is why we are not getting the kind of agreement. so you are not

backing philip hammond. ok. briefly, we will look at other stories in the next paper at 1130 because we have that terrible ongoing story we can see on the front of the metro, this photograph of the streets under the signs, strasbourg capital, sadly it's christmas market not so successful tonight because of that terrible shooting incident —— incident, ongoing at the moment with police attending to track the gunmen. they know who he is, a p pa re ntly gunmen. they know who he is, apparently someone who is thejustin was on the terrorism watch list as well, that is why our police are there. we will leave that for the next one, but just there. we will leave that for the next one, butjust below it a wonderful headline summing up how possibly some people must have felt when they got a call saying do you think you could squeeze theresa may infor think you could squeeze theresa may in for another meeting? they have all been very polite today, but i do think that they were very clear, european leaders a couple of weeks ago, that is with it, this was the end of the withdrawal agreement and

the negotiations, and she is back again. ido the negotiations, and she is back again. i do not know what they would say if i were in their shoes. i am not sure that tory mps do either, which is why we are on the verge of a no—confidence vote. which is why we are on the verge of a no-confidence vote. is not a bad pun, i suspect we will get a not war, not least possible on the name may. mayhem perhaps? maniac? he's working on them. if you have anymore you want to e—mail as do feel free 01’ you want to e—mail as do feel free or contact us on various other forms of social media. we will be back at 11:30pm with the papers. you can see the front page of online on the bbc news website there for you seven days a week, bbc .co .uk/ papers and if you miss the programme you can watch it all again on the bbci player. my thanks to colleen and ten will be back at 11:30pm hopefully with other front pages, certainly more so about the leadership contest. i'll be back with the

headlines later. hello. certainly looked like our weather has taken a turn for the quieter of the start of this week, but the winds will pick up as the week now goes on and it will feel colder as a result, but let'sjust say this beautiful view of the sunshine in west yorkshire today. we have seen one weather front coming in grind to a halt across the uk, here comes another as we go through tonight. the reason they are grinding toa tonight. the reason they are grinding to a halt, high pressure in scandinavia blocking them from having any further east. we end up with a lot of cloud across the uk, that patchy rain, the next weather front comes into southwest england, wales and northern ireland, some outbreaks of rain as we go through the night. where we are clear overnight and that is particularly toward eastern parts of england there will be some here getting close to freezing for a touch of frost, but for many of us we are a few degrees above freezing. some of our patches possible where it is cold est our patches possible where it is

coldest overnight. into tomorrow and too weak weather front across the uk, so areas of cloud, some patchy rain, more especially toward eastern northern ireland, westernmost parts of scotland, west wales into cornwall and devon. there will be the further east you are particularly across the eastern side of england increasing sunny spells through the day. the breeze starts to question a little and it'll feel a little chillier than it has today but it is as we go into thursday, high—pressure in scandinavia, is around that we get a stronger southeasterly wind. importing colder airand it southeasterly wind. importing colder air and it feels colder still because of the strength of the wind on thursday, so wind chill becomes more of a factor. there will be a lot of dry weather around, maiming —— maybe the odd light shower here and there and there will be sunny spells, but i think the thing we will notice most about their state is the strength of that southeasterly wind and how much colder it will feel and the temperature might suggest they have already come out of it because i've mentioned that we already have cold aircoming in the mentioned that we already have cold air coming in the because of the strength of the wind it'll feel colder still. it'll feel like it is closer to freezing. that wind is a

little lighter by the time we get to friday. still, it is chilly, plenty of dry weather around, but as we go into the weekend, notice the change here. the winds pick up again. for some of us turning a bit milder, but the main thing to talk about going into the weekend is the real mess of a weather system coming in from the atlantic. windy weather, but what whether pushing north and east and into colder air on its leading edge that could be a bit of snow. i will you updated. —— i will keep you updated. this is bbc news. i'm sean ley. the headlines at 11pm: a gunman has opened fire on a christmas market in strasbourg in france. reports say at least two people have died and several others are injured. it's thought that the suspect is engaged in a shoot—out with police. he isa he is a tourist from thailand, in

his 30s, accompanied by his girlfriend or his wife. other than that, i can't tell you, he is a p pa re ntly that, i can't tell you, he is apparently a foreigner, a tourist, who came to see the christmas market. theresa may is on a rapid tour of european capitals, including brussels, where she's meeting leaders and officials to ask for more assurances on her brexit deal. what has been shown to me from those meetings is that there is a shared determination to