it is returning, not with much rain, it is dry for most of us, but it brings the cloud. i wish i could tell better. but at the moment that is how it is hello, this is bbc news. we will be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment. first the headlines: the former leader of the liberal democrats lord paddy ashdown has died at the age of 77. he led the liberal democrats for over a decade and was the first leader after the liberal party merged with the social democrats in 1988. he was a very formidable man. it is, you know, very sad that we've lost him. i mean, he was politically active and really very dynamic and full of ideas, you know, right to the end. he also served as international high representative to bosnia herzegovina following the war which saw the break—up of yugoslavia. police investigating the drones at gatwick search a house in west sussex, following the arrest of a man and a woman from crawley. hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are sian griffiths, the education editor at the sunday times, and martin bentham from the evening standard. many of tomorrow's front pages are already in. the death of lord ashdown features on the front of the sunday times. the paper has paid tribute to him, saying he made the liberal democrats a formidable force. the sunday express leads with the chaos at gatwick, with the front page featuring a photo of the couple being questioned by police. that couple also feature in the mail on sunday with a rather more blunt headline — "are these the morons who ruined christmas? " ministers are reportedly scrambling to initiate measures to protect the uk against similar drone attacks in the future. that is in the sunday telegraph.

the independent leads with a story about the key policies that theresa may has reportedly had to put on hold because of brexit, policies such as fighting obesity, helping abuse victims, and preventing exploitation of workers. well, let's start with the front page of the sunday telegraph. a scramble to stop drone copycats. this of course is following the chaos that that week. yes, well, this obviously is referring to what now is the great fear of every air passenger in the country, and indeed every member of the government and so every member of the government and so on, that somebody else will try and do something similar to what happened at gatwick which caused such massive disruption and inconvenience to so many people, and massive financial losses to the airlines and to all sorts of different businesses. no doubt the retailers, everyone has lost money,

so retailers, everyone has lost money, so there is a great effort here a p pa re ntly so there is a great effort here apparently to find better ways of making sure that if somebody does try to fly a drone into an airport, into airspace, i should say, in future, that there is a way of intercepting those, bringing them down. we had all the discussion with the gatwick thing in that they couldn't be shut down, jamming systems don't seem to have worked, oi’ systems don't seem to have worked, or maybe only belatedly, and so now there is a frantic search to try and do this. and the other point which we will come to in the second is the sunday times story which is reflected here as well about whether this was just reflected here as well about whether this wasjust some reflected here as well about whether this was just some prankster, or whatever, or some enthusiasts causing mayhem almost for fun, whatever, or some enthusiasts causing mayhem almost forfun, or whatever it might have been, there is obviously a serious criminal risk of terrorist using these types of devices as well. and this is clearly, the way in which they are trying to take story on, and the interview the sunday telegraph has is with the defence minister and not the transport minister. well, that's

right. so gavin williamson, the defence secretary, has done an interview with the sunday telegraph and the sunday times has an interview with the security minister, ian wallace, and both stories, the sunday times one in particular, are spelling out the risk that if terrorist groups can use risk that if terrorist groups can use this technology, can use drones to attack airports, and possibly to bring down planes, that that is a terribly terrifying risk, to be honest —— ben wallace. as martin says, we don't have the technology, or airports don't have the technology, the jam these devices and to bring them down safely. and at christmas, when we are on high alert and we are very worried about the threat from terrorism, it seems a particularly bad time to be acknowledging that we are behind unless, that for whatever reason, out unless, that for whatever reason, our legislation has not caught up with the advances in drone technology. and there this almost gaping hole in our defences.

technology. and there this almost gaping hole in our defencesm technology. and there this almost gaping hole in our defences. it is also the teleological race, your paper has a piece about the sort of battle, because apparently far from it expert on drone technology, but there are ways of overriding any jamming systems, and so on. so as with a lot of technology, there is a co nsta nt with a lot of technology, there is a constant battle between people who are developing them and people who are developing them and people who are seeking to protect against the misuse of any form of technology to try to find ways to protect against that sort of malign use. and in this case, of course, there is the terrorist risk, but there is also just the straightforward disruption. as drones become more ubiquitous, people getting them for christmas, and so on, in large numbers potentially, it doesn't take a lot to fly something, even if it is just having a bit of fun, as i say, even if it is unintentional, almost, in the wrong place. and there is the risk that hitting a drone could bring an aircraft down, that would

bring an aircraft down, that would bring an aircraft to a halt, as it has done. it is notjust against the determined attempt to do something, but also against the general risk of that happening in a more casual sort of fashion as well, and clearly it needs to be thought about in a very serious way and then his be a lot of work done to try to find a way to protect against all of this. absolutely, and both of you have mentioned that story on the front page of the sunday times, your paper, sian, al qaeda group returning. so this is the interview that the security minister, ben wallace that the security minister, ben walla ce ha s that the security minister, ben wallace has done, and he is saying that the terrorist group al qaeda poses a growing threat which is keeping ministers awake at night. he says intelligence ministers believe that they are attempting to bring down passengerjet, that they are attempting to bring down passenger jet, and that they are attempting to bring down passengerjet, and militant groups may use drones packed with explosives to blow up key targets. so again linking it back to the

drone attack at gatwick, but this much wider threat that al qaeda is very specifically plotting various things, but very much targeting airliners. what is interesting about this is people in the security world have always thought that al qaeda, even at the height of islamic state, they were still saying al qaeda still exists, it has not disappeared asa still exists, it has not disappeared as a threat. what ben wallace is saying here is that partly because islamic state is on a downward trajectory, although far from what donald trump was saying, far from eliminated, but al qaeda has perhaps become more research and because of the setbacks to islamic state, for one, and secondly, obviously, 9/11 shows that, and there was the 2006 baht shows that, and there was the 2006 ba ht to shows that, and there was the 2006 baht to blow up transatlantic jets, causing massive disruption here and it was a very serious lot. that is why we have all the liquid searches at airports. all of that was

triggered by al qaeda threats and it is something they have never abandoned. what he is talking about, as well as the drone aspect, there isa as well as the drone aspect, there is a general continuing threat from al qaeda, and it is talking here about them finding new ways. there was another plot to smuggle on a transport plane inside a photocopier, as i recall, trying to smuggle a bomb in a cartridge in a freight plane flown into nottingham, asi freight plane flown into nottingham, as i recall, so they have this history of trying to bring down passenger jets, history of trying to bring down passengerjets, and history of trying to bring down passenger jets, and this history of trying to bring down passengerjets, and this is a renewed warning in effect that this is something that is still keeping ministers awake and still a very live threat. indeed, absolutely. sian, sticking with the sunday times, the picture story of the front page, our main story this evening, the death of lord ashdown. a lovely picture, lord ashdown with his dog, he has died of cancer at the age of 77. a lot of papers are

using this phrase, the action man politician, because of course before he became the leader of the liberal democrats he had a successful career asa marine democrats he had a successful career as a marine and he has died of blood cancer, and lots of tributes in the papers today. i think the headline on the sunday times is very moving, i fought a lot of battles in my life, but in the end this particular battle... it was only seven weeks from his diagnosis to his death, was not one that he could win. a lot of very fond memories being reflected in tomorrow's papers. this idea of him being an action man and also refers to his style, doesn't it? he led from the front. he was somebody who would succeed against anything, but he had that history in the royal marines and continued to look like he was somebody of that sort, and all the people who worked alongside him have paid testimony to his great

energy. he didn't just look like him have paid testimony to his great energy. he didn'tjust look like he was vigorous, i think he actually was, and had this great determination. he did a lot of work in bosnia, the military expertise there stood him in good stead in that it was a dangerous mission he was undertaking, often, as your correspondent earlier i think was talking about, with limited security around him. yet he was very brave to try and do good things fair, which did achieve some good things. and clearly he achieved a very good result for the liberal democrats in 1997, and to be frank, if they had somebody of his stature leading them 110w somebody of his stature leading them now they might be in a better position than they currently are. they need another person of his calibre, really. some warm tributes to him. let's go back to the sunday telegraph, and we can't have a paper review without doing some brexit, can we? andrea leadsom warning the house you cannot prevent an ideal

brexit. mps cannot prevent the uk leaving the eu if they don't approve theresa may's plan or an alternative, pointing out the clock is running down if we don't agree theresa may's plan, we could leave with no deal. she is telling people to stop talking about the possibility of a second referendum, because she is saying that that is driving voters away from conservatives and sparking support for extremist parties. that has come, of course, after other ministers like amber rudd have warned against the government leaving without a deal. so continuing divisions, really, in the tory party on this. what i mean, the point she is making, as you were just saying, is that as things stand we leave on 29 march. if there is in the deal, by definition, as theresa may has said, there is no deal. so u nless may has said, there is no deal. so unless something happens to delay the whole thing, it does require some alternative to be supported by

parliament. and this is perhaps the problem. the idea that parliament can seize control of it and to solve the problem and renegotiate a new deal, i think what she is saying to those people who are saying it is, actually, that is very unlikely to happen. she is maybe saying it is not going to happen, but it always did seem unlikely to happen, that at the last minute parliament would say we are not accepting what the government is negotiating, and in a short time we can require the government to negotiate... because parliament can only vote against whatever the executive puts forward. yes, and then the executive have to go back and strike a new deal with brussels, or a new government will have to do that, and the time for thatis have to do that, and the time for that is very limited even if the european union was willing to accept it. widget doesn't seem to be at all. sunday times has a related story, theresa may hopes to seal the deal and go on until 2021. some

people might be surprised to see that. yes, given that only very re ce ntly that. yes, given that only very recently she was saying she is not going to lead them into the next election. so to go on until 2021, she is going to apparently carry on leaving her party for quite some time yet. this story is by caroline wheeler, a deputy editor, saying they are plotting to keep her in downing street for at least two years, amid growing confidence is she will get her brexit deal through parliament. we go round and round. . this follows secret talks between ollie robbins and his counterparts la st ollie robbins and his counterparts last week, the idea being she would hang onto power until 2021, just a general election, and she would hand over with a nine month transition period before the election, to a new tory party leader. it is sort of curious, though, isn't it, given that just a few days

curious, though, isn't it, given thatjust a few days ago her political obituaries were starting to be written. well, it has been written a lot of times, so in that senseit written a lot of times, so in that sense it isn't surprising that she keeps hanging on and surviving. but iagree, keeps hanging on and surviving. but i agree, the idea that as soon as she said she was going to stand down that the general narrative would be that the general narrative would be that basically her time is up pretty quickly after the brexit process has been concluded, even if not before, obviously she survived a motion of confidence, but that therefore the race would be on straightaway after 29 march or whenever it might be. so this is very different to that. the interesting thing here is she seems to be appealing for support, or the people talking on her behalf, by suggesting that the people could be next could be philip hammond, that —— the bete noir of the brexiteers, 01’ —— the bete noir of the brexiteers,

or others who mightn't appeal to people who don't like the various characters mentioned in that list.l much younger group coming in, the majority of them being under the age of 50 going forward into the next election. a quick look at the front page of the independent. this is something link you alluded to a little earlier. the fact that brexit has so dominated domestic politics that nothing else gets a look at —— you mentioned. a lot of critics are saying that there has been so much focus on brexit, how we are going to get a deal and get a deal through parliament, that theresa may has actually shelved a lot of very important legislation that the country needs. one example is some legislation that would give airports the powers to jam drones, at which they don't have those powers at the moment. other flagship policies that she has promised in the past are also apparently now been shelved.

the key pledges they have now dubbed ghost policies have hit the buffers. among them are moves to prevent tenants being exploited by a off leases, to use schools to tackle childhood obesity, and to help women suffering sexual, psychological, and violent abuse. suffering sexual, psychological, and viole nt abuse. these suffering sexual, psychological, and violent abuse. these have all been sidelined. one that i know a lot about is to use schools to tackle childhood obesity. the idea that that was a sensible key pledge that could be pushed through isjust ridiculous. schools don't see it as their job ridiculous. schools don't see it as theirjob to tackle obesity. and there is absolutely no way, i think, one could have made them tackle obesity. i think they think that is a parent'sjob obesity. i think they think that is a parent's job to obesity. i think they think that is a parent'sjob to make sure their kids are not fat. not a teacher's job. a more general point, some people may say it is not a bad thing if the government doesn't start regulating left, right, and centre. a lot of people complain. maybe it is not such a bad thing after all. just get on with doing what they

should be doing, effectively. we are going to have to leave it there. thank you both very much indeed. that's it for the papers tonight. don't forget you can see the front pages of the papers online on the bbc news website. it is all there for you seven days a week at bbc.co.uk/papers, and if you miss the programme any evening, you can watch it later on bbc iplayer. thank you, sian griffiths and martin bentham. goodbye. let's return to our main story this evening, the death of the former leader of the liberal democrat party, lord ashdown. lord david steel was leader of the liberal democrats until paddy took over in 1988. we spoke to lord steel this evening who paid his respects. well, it has come as a great shot, even though i knew he was very ill,

because his whole image was one of an action man. he seemed indestructible. it is what i think makes his death seem so khrul. i immediately wanted to convey his —— my condolences to jane and the children. —— cruel. it is a terribly sad day for the liberal democrats. he was the first leader who lifted the party more than just a handful of seats, which joe the party more than just a handful of seats, whichjoe cremin, jeremy thorpe and i had ever seen, he rose it up to bea thorpe and i had ever seen, he rose it up to be a really influential party in parliament. he did this at a time of some political upheaval, because he was the first leader of the party that emerged the liberal party with the social democrats. that is right. he took over after the merger. it wasn't an easy time. it was very difficult. the polls we re very it was very difficult. the polls were very low. but he picked it up and he ran with it. just remind you,

he came into politics very much without a job. he took a huge risk standing the conservative seat, he had no money, nojob. and he made it his own. so people there were very devoted to him and he served them brilliantly during his time as mp. and what sort of values would you say he exemplified? he absolutely identified with liberalism. i don't think that was shown particularly with his concern about the hong kong british. the chinese who have british. the chinese who have british citizenship in hong kong. he stood up for them and he won the battle to secure their rights as british citizens. and that was a really obscure issue, but a very liberal one. and he will be remembered for that as well as all the important things he did in his life. latterly, the le sommer spoke a few weeks back, it was about the books he was writing —— the last

timei books he was writing —— the last time i spoke to him. it was carving out a new career as an interesting author on books really to do with the second world war and located in france, where he had a holiday house. the voice of devon still. lord ashdown played a prominent role in the peace process following the balkans war in the 1990s. the bbc‘s special correspondent allan little spent three years in bosnia reporting for the bbc from 1992 to 1995 and got to know lord ashdown, and has stayed in touch since. he has been giving me some of his memories. ifirst met him in bosnia. i was struck by his impatience and determination to get things done. after that, his physical courage, too. he came at a time when the war was at its height, there was shelling and sniping in sarajevo every day, he wasn't part of a government delegation, he was there under his own steam so his protection was very limited. what struck me was his ability to listen.

he understood straightaway, at a time when most other, most western european governments and certainly the labour party and the conservative party in britain viewed the war in bosnia as essentially all sides equally guilty and fuelled by ancient ethnic hatreds, paddy ashdown saw through that straightaway and saw very clearly that it was guided, directed, commanded, funded from one side more than the others. and he was very clear about that. i picked him up once on something he said in a radio interview, i told him i disagreed with him fundamentally, and i expected him to push me away and defend his position, and instead, he said i will come back later and we can explore that. and later that night, he came to my office and we sat there for an hour or so and he grilled me and questioned me and he was interested in my take, and that struck me as very unusual for a politician of that stature and calibre. the quality of his listening

was very, very impressive. very unusual. how did lord ashdown, how was he received by the various parties while he was there? well, i think he was very well liked in bosnia at that time for simply coming, for having the courage to come and share the danger with the people there. he was not much liked by the serb side, he saw very clearly that the war was coming from that direction but he was, ithink, welcomed by, when he became high representative in 2002, he certainly got a lot done, he managed to help knit the country back together again, to close the divisions. it was under his leadership that bosnia got a single multinational army again, it having obviously divided along ethnic lines during the war, and he managed to knit together a unified police authority so he helped a lot to rebuild the country after the war.

i got an e—mailfrom him a few weeks ago, he was very worried that a lot of what he had achieved at that time was being put into reverse and he was sounding the alarm constantly about the threat of a return to violence and the general destabilising with the rise again of nationalist parties. he was agitating right up to the end on that question that was so close to his heart. that is very interesting. you retained that interest. and you and he, although meeting many years ago, stayed in touch, specifically over bosnia or as friends? 0ver bosnia. i wouldn't claim him as a friend. he got very angry with me a few times and said though when i said things on the television and radio about the balkans that he disagreed with. we had great discussions about it and he wouldn't hold back, he would be very clear about what he thought. but he bury the hatchet

very quickly. he would contact me from time to time and say, what can we do about this? this is troubling me, have you heard about the latest development, what can we do about it? i stayed in touch with him in that discussion. and that was a place that was very, very close to his heart, for 25 or more years, and stayed close to his heart right up until a few weeks ago. and the words we have heard this evening, alan, tributes from people who knew him, words like sincerity, integrity, honesty, these are words that you would use to sum him up, too? absolutely. i was very struck by that. you didn'tjoin the liberal democrats when paddy did to have career in government, he was driven by conviction, but principles, and he was one of the most principled people i have ever known. alan, in his last few weeks, you say you were in touch with him

fairly recently, did he speak to you about his health? no, not at all. we had an e—mail exchange before he was ill. he was worried about the deteriorating situation in bosnia, that is really what we stayed in touch about, we did a few public events together over the years in which i would interview him on stage for a radio programme and our conversation was broadly always about the same thing, about the balkans, and that was the context in which i knew him. but i was very struck by his tenacity, he was a patient man and wanted to get things done quickly but he had the long view, he kept on at this for 25 years, a very unfashionable cause, there were no votes in it for him, he wasn't going to be more popular as a result of devoting so much time to a problem that few people understood in the balkans. he was driven by compassion,

principle, and a belief that things could get better. alan, very good to talk to you with your assessment of lord ashdown. hello there. the days are so short now. it's pretty good that we saw nearly six hours of sunshine in essex today. won't be repeated tomorrow. looks like a very different day for most of england and wales and northern ireland. lost for scotland probably drier. the reason for the changed the weather front are massing to the west of us. instead of the sunshine and showers we have seen today as we go into sunday morning we have a cloud piling and so it will be a relatively mild start of the day with that rain in the south. fog ahead of it and fog and frost across scotland. it does look pretty miserable. there will be some heavy rain, quitea miserable. there will be some heavy rain, quite a dismal day, even if eclairs from northern ireland and

southern scotland later on. where we have the fog, there could be some fog lingering in the glens of scotland, it takes time to clear at this time of year, it will be chilly. otherwise sunshine. rival northern ireland and southern scotland. northern england it will be great, hill fog, coastalfog, though the outbreaks of rain. it will be mild and drizzly. not the best of days, unfortunately, tomorrow. we've had the best of the sunshine today in the south. it will be quite right in the north. in the dry air, the clearer skies through the coming night, not this night but tomorrow night will push southwards limiting the rain to the far south where it will stay mahle, cloudy, dap, the frost much more widespread by monday morning, christmas eve, called on christmas eve to start. potentially with patchy fog around, even a freezing fog. but the payoff is that it will be brighter where we don't have the fog, with more sunshine. it does look like another crisp start to the day, pleasant day. we hold onto that rain and

cloud in the south and west much of the day. elsewhere the sunshine comes and goes. temperatures not as high elsewhere. a cold start as well. does it lustica christmas day? possibly not. the weather front hanging around in the south topples back —— doesn't hang around. there what too much rain on that weather front but it topples back into the high, it brings the cloud. it could be grey and misty, fog around. at the moment christmas day is looking mostly dry. good news if you want to get out for that walk after christmas dinner, but predominantly cloudy. some of that will be low on the hills and the mountains. mostly dry weather, light winds. if we do see some sunshine that will compensate. but under the cloud he mist lingers, just five or six celsius. spot the difference late in the week. again a predominantly cloudy picture. this is bbc news.

i'm ben bland. our top stories: a tsunami in indonesia — first reports say 20 people have been killed in the sunda strait. closed for christmas — no end to the us government shutdown as senate democrats and the white house face off over the border wall. the us envoy to the fight against islamic state resigns in protest at donald trump's decision to withdraw american troops from syria. paddy ashdown, the british politician who found a new role securing peace in bosnia, has died aged 77.