as prime minister theresa may fights for her political survival. you're watching a bbc news special. live at westminster. good morning and welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt, live at westminster. there was certainly advantages to reporting from the heart of where the story was happening, allowing programmes like victoria derbyshire to capture the divisions in parliament live on our screens. i'm going to talk to your colleague now, james cleverly, conservative mp and vice chair of the conservative party. i gather that you don't necessarily want to talk to each other, so if you want to go... are you happy to? i will go, that's fine. 0k, all right. mr cleverly, please do join us. good morning to you. and the coverage extended beyond regular programmes. viewers on bbc one were offered not just one but two live bbc news news specials this week. on monday evening, nick robinson explored what theresa may's brexit deal could mean for the uk. while andrew neil hosted a prime time news special on wednesday with live coverage of the leadership challenge to the prime minister. but with events moving quickly,

there were moments when even the bbc appeared unsure as to what scale of coverage was appropriate. the andrew neil special was initially scheduled to start at 7:30pm and last a full 90 minutes. within hours, however, it was scaled back, first to an hour at 8pm, and then changed again to a half—hour special at 8:30pm, which delayed the start of the apprentice. millions of people tuned in, but was the wall to wall coverage really necessary? james patterson from essex wasn't sure. there were many instances throughout the week when bbc news did precisely that. but malcolm hyatt still felt there was too much focus on theresa may and brexit.

i was due to play golf, so intended to watch my local bbc breakfast news and weather at 8:30am, for the regional forecast. if it is settled tonight, she can go to the european council tomorrow... instead i had to watch a guy in downing street in a woolly hat setting up a lectern. i therefore surmised that the temperature was low. after much subsequent discussion, mainly of what would happen if mrs may lost the vote, i gave up and ventured out, prepared for all weathers. in the evening, i hear mrs may won the vote, but there is now much discussion as to whether she has won it by enough. yes, we need to know what's going on, but in manageable chunks, please, and not to the exclusion of everything else. another day of single issues, overconcentration at the bbc, ifeel. david andrews felt the same. is it possible, please, for all this brexit etc that is being bombarded on us by the television, to be

moved to another channel, possibly the bbc parliament channel, or even online on bbc three to give the rest of us a little bit of a break and opportunity to reflect on the season? we asked the bbc to respond to those comments about the volume of coverage and explain the reasons behind the schedule changes. they didn't mention the duration changes but told newswatch it was in the public interest for the result of the vote of confidence in theresa may to be broadcast to a mainstream bbc one audience as it was an important political moment with big potential implications for the country. let's reflect on an extraordinary week of political news with ben wright, the bbc‘s political correspondent. thank you for coming on newswatch. this was one of those weeks where viewers saw the green across parliament packed with politicians and tv cameras.

what's it like reporting on those kinds of circumstances? it's never been like this before. i think most viewers and listeners know that themselves. everyone is gripped and glued to this story because certainly in my working life we've never had a political crisis like this. you're right, the college green area in front of parliament is now a gazebo city full of tents. and it's not just british broadcasters. the world's media are there to try to make some sense of this. how do you keep a clear head when it clearly is a circus? i think all the time, what are the questions that the audience actually want answering here. they want guidance through this maze. it's such a multidimensional political story as well. you've got the stability or not of the government. you have theresa may's own position in her party. you've got gridlock within parliament. it's like this great big enormous political rubik's cube is being twizzled every day. and every day it feels different. you are having to just try and decode that for people. and how do you avoid too much speculation given how many what ifs and potential scenarios there are? it's hard to.

and i think a lot of us have been chastened from our experience of political correspondence over the last two or three years where predictions have proved to be completely wrong. think back to the 2015 election, which we thought would be a hung parliament but it delivered a conservative majority government, through to the referendum, which i think wrong—footed a lot of politicaljournalists. politics stopped being predictable quite a long time ago. i think the key thing for us is to show some humility. and not to pretend that we know how this will unfold. when there are fa cts , this will unfold. when there are facts, how do you report them? sometimes you have competing narratives. ii7 mps voting against theresa may in the vote of confidence this week. depending who you listen to go with the result was either a strong vote of confidence in her ora either a strong vote of confidence in her or a massive blow to her popularity what's the truth? there isa popularity what's the truth? there is a political hunch that have. that's a good example. that day, talking to lots of conservative mps before the result to get a sense from them as to what would

constitute a good result, poor result, strong win or destabilising when. from the point of view of viewers, at a time of huge uncertainty and it's fair to say anxiety, they worry that interpretation can feed further uncertainty. i wonder as political correspondence, are you conscious, is ita correspondence, are you conscious, is it a big responsibility with that anxiety? do you get worried that what you say might have repercussions? it certainly unlike any political story we have covered in that people looking at it are very disturbed in many ways, and alarmed by what's unfolding. because all the normal elements of british political life that you think are pretty solid, like a functioning adversarial parliament that in the end does itsjob, doesn't seem to be working at the moment. and as a political journalist that is terribly exciting to be reporting, but it is slightly disturbing as well. and you feel that as journalists covering it, absolutely. and there is a whole team of people working alongside presenters. people

see laura kuenssberg, me and my colleagues, but this only happens because of a vast and brilliant political machine, journalistic political machine, journalistic political machine. they are the ones, the producer standing outside a cabinet minister's house at 6am, doorstepping for the latest comment. it's the researchers following events in parliament all day, many people keep us on the road, as well as lots of crisps and pizza. our diets have collapsed in the last few weeks. it has to be said. ben wright, thank you very much. theresa may had started the week by postponing the big vote on her brexit deal, and embarking on a whistle—stop tour of european capitals in an effort to win further concessions from eu leaders. on tuesday lunchtime the bbc news at one reported on her visit to berlin, including this moment. from there it was onto next stop. at every turn the prime minister appears stuck.

political gridlock at home, and here in berlin, even her car door refused to open. her fundamental in berlin, even her car door refused to open. herfundamental problem though, she has agreed the deal must have a backstop to ensure border controls don't ever return on the island of ireland, and parliament doesn't like it. the moment was also discussed by presenter simon mccoy and burling correspondence jenny hill on the bbc news channel later that afternoon. i suppose if you wa nted that afternoon. i suppose if you wanted an analogy, the difficulty the prime minister had injust getting out of the car, itjust shows how much things are stacked against her. yeah, it wasn't the best start to her meeting with angela merkel, who was stood on the red carpet waiting as mrs may's staff tried desperately to get her out of the car. as you can imagine, a great deal of heavy symbolism attributed to those first few moments. but that was no laughing matter for patricia betts moments. but that was no laughing matterfor patricia betts in sutherland will stop she called us with this message. the monday

lunchtime news showed mrs may's car door stuck as she arrived for an imported meeting regarding brexit. this was used by the reporter as a pun. i was so this was used by the reporter as a pun. i was so ci’oss this was used by the reporter as a pun. i was so cross i had to turn off the television. it happens all too often in news reports, a serious news item being treated lightly, and journalists trying to be too clever. perhaps the bbc could learn not to treat the public is if they were children to be amused, entertained oi’ children to be amused, entertained or even insulted. but there has been praised for the bbc‘s brexit reporting as well with one news watch viewer getting in touch to ask us watch viewer getting in touch to ask us to thank the team at brexit cast, particularly political correspondent chris mason and brussels reporter adam fleming. here they are in action. we demand a people's vote. let me remind you what we are doing. first of all there is a withdrawal agreement, about 600 pages, the

terms of the divorce, winding up the uk plus map membership of the eu. plus it's about protecting the rights of people from the eu living in the uk and protecting the rights of brits living in the european union. correct. david james bailey from ink and wrote to us... thank you for all your comments this week. if you want to share your opinions on bbc news and current affairs or even appear on the programme, you can call us. or e—mail. find us on twitter and have a look at our website. that's all from us. we are off air

for the next two weeks but we will be back in the new year. happy christmas. after several days of quiet weather, saturday couldn't be more different. it's hard to overstress how hazardous some of the weather will be for some of us from saturday into early sunday. met office amber warnings in force for ice and snow. the ice comes from freezing rain, really unusual, almost unheard of to have such a high level of warning for it, as rain that freezes insta ntly for it, as rain that freezes i nsta ntly o n for it, as rain that freezes instantly on contact with frozen surfaces. a greater risk for parts of the midlands, northern england and scotland, through this zone from saturday into early sunday and north of the central belt in scotland, snow drifting in heavy wind piling up snow drifting in heavy wind piling up in hills and mountains. cold air as come in around high pressure and now the atlantic weather systems are coming in with moisture into the cold air. overnight we will see outbreaks of rain pushing into

northern ireland, parts of wales and south—west england. ahead of that, increasing cloud and breeze but it's cold and frosty once again. all of this colder air and freezing surfaces, waiting for moisture to fall on top of them and cause ice rink conditions later on saturday. during saturday for northern ireland, wales and south—west england, rain turning heavier with plenty of standing water, 30—50 millimetres and 50—60 mph winds developing across the uk. wind strengthening and a big range of temperatures across the uk. milder in the west with the rain but colder in the west with the rain but colder in the rest of the uk. moisture moving ina in the rest of the uk. moisture moving in a cross cut frozen ground, parts of the midlands, northern england and scotland with freezing rain having a potentially very dangerous effect. some sleet and snow especially in the hills and north of the central belt in scotland, a prolonged period of heavy snow, blowing about in the strengthening wind with blizzards at times. all of that making for an

extremely messy travel set up from saturday into early sunday. we have freezing rain and ice risks. heavy rain in places and heavy snow elsewhere. across the uk, strengthening wind. keep in touch with the latest situation near you from bbc local radio. we see further snow affecting parts of scotland and into sunday overnight morning. further showers coming into the west and south on sunday morning. elsewhere looking dry and bright and a little less cold as well. that's the latest forecast. this is bbc news — i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 8:00. no renegotiation of her brexit deal — but theresa may leaves the eu summit in brussels insisting she can win further assurances to get it through parliament. in if we are going to leave with a deal, this is it. but my discussions with colleagues today have shown that further clarification and discussion following the council's conclusions is in fact possible. but a tense exchange between mrs may and jean claude juncker

as she accuses him of describing her latest efforts as nebulous. he denies it. i did not refer to her, but to the overall state of the of the debate in britain. and that is why i was saying that this was "nebulous" — "foggy" in english. a baby has died after being attacked by two dogs in the family home