hello. this is business live from bbc news with victoria fritz and sally bundock. flexible fortunes — samsung‘s launching a secret new weapon to help revive the smartphone market and fend off cheaper chinese rivals. off cheaper chinese rivals. good morning welcome live from london, to breakfast with naga munchetty that‘s our top story and charlie stayt. on thursday, 21 february. our headlines today: braced for further defections. three former conservative mps who have quit the party say a significant number of colleagues are also considering walking out. the south korean firm‘s no breakthrough in brussels, but theresa may insists progress has new flexible new smartphone been made on agreeing changes to the brexit deal. new flexible smartphone the british teenager who joined is in syria says she's shocked by the home secretary's decision to remove her uk citizenship. opens up into a tablet, but carries a hefty price tag at almost $2,000. also in the programme — heathrow airport, now tax online firms and save the high street. mps say "wide reforms" are needed to revive our town centres , they want an internet sales tax. after var controversy and a red card — manchester city launch a fightback with raheem sterling sealing their 3—2 win over schalke

in the champions league. huthackman kicked off the show in style but who were the big winners at this year's brits? we'll find out. a mild start to the day, fairly cloudy with showers, also some sunshine. i will tell you where in 15 minutes. it's thursday, the 21st february. our top story. three mps who defected from the conservative party say a significant number of their former colleagues are also considering walking out. in a letter to the prime minister anna soubry, heidi allen and sarah wollaston said the tory party had been taken over by hard brexiteers. they've joined eight mps who resigned from labour to form

the independent group, which now has more mps in parliament than the dup and the same number as the liberal democrats. anna soubry criticised theresa may for allowing brexit to "define and shape" the conservative party. the hardline anti—eu awkward squad that have destroyed every leader for the last a0 years are now running the conservative party from top to toe. they are the conservative party. let's get the latest from our political correspondent ben wright in westminster. it kind of depends who you ask about this moment in british politics. some people say this could be the beginning of something extraordinary, other people say it really does not amount to much, there are only 11 of them and there you go? true, charlie, it could be a small landslip of british politics

or the beginning of something significant, an avalanche that changes the shape of british politics has been a bit. we simply do not know. what is true is that this new group has had a good launch, and there is clearly a momentum to it and clearly those three tories, so quickly to cross the floor and then launch the blistering attack they did on the current tory party in that press conference yesterday was powerful stuff. i know that a number of tory mps and ministers privately would agree with almost every word they said. the question is whether any more will cross the floor and join this new group. ifeel more will cross the floor and join this new group. i feel it's unlikely although last night dominic grieve, former tory attorney general said that if the government pursues a no—deal brexit he could not retain the conservative whip, he did not say he would join the new group but that he would leave the tory party andi that he would leave the tory party and i think there might be others who were to do the same. my feeling is that the growth of this group

will lie within the labour party and the air seems to be at least if you have them on the brink ofjoining. i think the depth of anger within the labour party about jeremy think the depth of anger within the labour party aboutjeremy corbyn, about brexit, about how he is handling anti—semitism, that is far more profound and i think the potential of this group to group to grow using labour recruits as they are. and theresa may is busy with brexit talks in brussels today? very little came out of that, an agreement to continue to discuss, that they need to find a constructive way forward, it feels very much, the statement put out yesterday looked like a holding statement, my sense is that there if there is enough progress around the irish backstop, to prevent a hard border on the island of ireland, the deal could be brought back to the commons, but i'm not sure we are there yet. it is incredibly feeble at the moment. thank you. just worth reminding you as well...

we'll be speaking to the chancellor philip hammond about the defections just after seven o'clock this morning. bangladesh has rejected suggestions that shamima begum, who fled to syria from london four years ago tojoin so—called islamic state, is a citizen of their country. the uk is stripping her of her british nationality but such a move is only possible if an individual is eligible for citizenship elsewhere. it was thought the 19—year—old had bangladeshi citizenship through her mother. kathryn stanczyszyn has more. a disappointed shamima begum at the al—hawl refugee camp in syria. the 19—year—old, who left school to join islamic state, and hasjust given birth, wanted to return to the uk with her newborn son. instead, she found out the government was taking away her british nationality, something she says is unjust. her baby, who she was carrying under her clothes, will still be british. i thought they would be a bit more sympathetic because of my situation.

i did explain that i didn't know fully what i was getting into. and, you know, i made a mistake. and i was hoping that... they would have some sympathy and understanding, but clearly not. four years ago, when shamima begum left britain aged 15, police said she'd been groomed. now she has been told her uk citizenship will be revoked, and she should rely instead on her possible bangladeshi nationality through her mother. but the bangladeshi foreign minister has stated she is not a dual citizen. she's never been to bangladesh, and there was no question of her being allowed into the country. in an interview last night, home secretary sajid javid said he would not leave any individual stateless. but some say this is what shamima begum is now facing. her appeal is likely to take months to go through the courts. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. some breaking news overnight, a huge fire in a densely—populated

area of the bangladesh capital has killed at least 70 people. the flames broke out in an apartment block in dhaka, where the ground floor was used to store chemicals. it's thought a gas cylinder may have started the fire, which quickly spread through the floors and to nearby buildings. many other people have been injured and authorities there say the number of fatalities could increase. the fire is now under control. gas hobs and boilers could be banned from new homes within six years to meet carbon emissions targets. the committee on climate change, which advises the government, says much more must also be done on existing homes, such as draught proofing and external shading to prepare for the effects of climate change. environment analyst roger harrabin sends this report. cars, planes and industry normally get the blame for greenhouse gases, but 14% of the uk's emissions come from our homes. mostly from gas boilers. the report says the uk can't hit climate targets unless emissions

from homes are reduced to almost zero through much better insulation. this robot, for instance, insulates floors from below. but last year, emissions from homes actually rose. the committee said the current generation of homeowners is cheating its children by bequeathing buildings that get too cold in winter and will increasingly get too hot in summer as the climate heats. it said many poorly—built new houses would need to be re—insulated at vast cost in just 10—15 years. we risk saving up a problem for the next generation if we don't make actions and put plans in place now. so we know that spending a small amount of money now to address climate change saves a big cost in the future. that's a cost that will fall on the young generation today, and we know that the houses that we see around us will be around for a very long time, so we should be acting. this is a matter of intergenerational concerns. the treasury has typically been

reluctant to invest public money into improving people's private homes. but the committee says the transformation needed won't happen unless it does. roger harrabin, bbc news. calvin harris was a big winner at last night's brits. he bagged two awards, for "best single" and "producer of the year". the 1975 were also double winners, for "best british group" and "album of the year". our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba's report contains some flashing images. hugh jackman kicked hughjackman kicked the night off, performing from the greatest showman, the would—be soundtrack and 2018's biggest selling album. and the winner is... the 1975! the night's big winners were a poprock

band, the 1975, taking home best album and best british group, they use their speech to speak out against the prejudice facing women in the industry, quoting journalist laura snipes. the male misogynist a cts laura snipes. the male misogynist acts are examined for nuance and defended as traits of difficult artists. whilst women and those who call them out are treated as hysteric player—mac who don't understand art. to words too for dj and producer calvin harris, best single four two with dua lipa and best producer. best british female went to... jorja smith! thank you so much, this is for all of us, all the little girls and women who are just being themselves and loving everything they are doing. while best british male was george ezra.

this is an incredible honour, thank you very much. there is not, oh, my... there is not a day goes by that i don't consider myself very lucky and this is the icing on the cake, so thank you very much. little mix won best video, which also features nicki minaj. the winners of best international group, the characters, beyonce and jay z, who accepted their award in front of a portrait of meghan markle, duchess of sussex. thank you so much to the brit awards for this incredible honour, you guys have always been so supportive. everything is love. thank you. you're welcome. best international female was ariana grande. i want to say thank you so much for international female solo artist, this is so cool and i am so

grateful. i wish i was there with you guys, i have so much love for the uk and my fans. i wish you guys, i have so much love for the uk and my fans. iwish i you guys, i have so much love for the uk and my fans. i wish i were there. and singer pink, received an outstanding contribution to music award, and close the show with a medley of hits. she came down from the sky. yellow like a circus act. we love pink. just incredible. all three of us.“ you weren't watching the brits, you might have been watching that game... i might have been watching that game. .. i think might have been watching that game... i think the might have been watching that game. .. i think the whole nation was divided, man city or the brits on the other side. i was of course watching a bit of both. but it was such an incredible game if you are following it. first of all, city took the lead and then a

controversial penalty from schalke to equalise and a lot of city fans had accepted the fact that in this champions league tie, we will take the tu— one, that will be fine. but then we went into the 85th minute and city equalised! a fantastic goal, what a plot twist and it means that schalke lost in the end in germany. let's take a look... what a shop. and then it was raheem sterling, who scored the winner. leroy sane scored the goal of the game as city won the first leg of their last 16 tie 3—2. embattled chelsea manager maurizio sarri admits winning matches is the only solution as his future remains in the spotlight. tonight chelsea take a 2—1 lead to malmo in the europa league. centuries from jason roy and joe root helped england complete their highest ever successful run chase in a one day international, beating west indies in barbados.

and steve stricker almost broke down in tears as he was announced as the next ryder cup captain for the united states. he'll lead the american side at the competition in 2020 at whistling straits. that course is in wisconsin, where stricker grew up. a lovely story, he looks so emotional to accept that. he's the captain, the first who has never won a major but everyone agreed he was the right man for the job. see how he cries when europe wins... controversial! not at all, we are on your‘s site. 6:14am. here's carol with a look at this morning's weather. good morning. if you arejust stepping out, it's a mild start to the day, yesterday we had the highest average in the uk in kinloss, just short of 15 degrees and we could see something higher

today. temperature—wise, up to 17 celsius but it depends how much cloud breaks and where we see the sunshine. at the moment, mild weather is coming in from the caribbean, dragged up across our assurers, you can see the amber region indicating it will turn milder. a cloudy start with drizzle and showers, some could come in from the north sea, into east anglia that it will brighten up through the day, more sunshine around and across the far north—east of scotland we are once again we expect to reach the dizzy heights of 17. blustery winds, though, out towards the west. these are the temperatures. whately, 13-14, are the temperatures. whately, 13—111, locally we are looking at 16-17. at this time 13—111, locally we are looking at 16—17. at this time of year, it would normally just be 16—17. at this time of year, it would normallyjust be sick celsius in the north and nine in the south,

so we are away above in the north and nine in the south, so we are away above where we should normally be. fog and mist patches will form and some will be dense across parts of the midlands, southern england and into the south—east and east anglia. clear skies for the north, with a weather front approaching from the west, that means we will see more cloud and once again some patchy rain coming our way. that's how we start the day tomorrow. high pressure dominates. you can see from the isobar as it will be windy. here is the weather front coming our way overnight. moving further inland through the day on friday, turning the sunshine hazy. there will be quite a bit of sunshine around tomorrow when we lose the mist and fog. it will drag its heels in the morning and might take until mid morning and might take until mid morning until we eventually say goodbye to its. temperatures again widely14—15, locally 16—17. and there is a potential 418, across parts of wales and the north coast

of devon. something to look forward to if you it warmer. on friday, snow in parts of southern europe near the mediterranean. high pressure and around that, the air will move in a clockwise direction, so we will drag up clockwise direction, so we will drag up airfrom clockwise direction, so we will drag up air from north africa across spain, so once again a pleasant and mild day for many. but it depends how quickly we lose the mist and fog and also where the cloud breaks. these are the temperature values we expect. 13—15, higher with more sunshine. towards the west, thicker cloud and rain. that leads us into saturday, sunday and monday, i should say, and as we head into next week, high pressure in control. temperatures could be higher, the same applies, depending on how quickly we lose the fog and how much

cloud is around. but even sticking to those values, that is still above average for the stage in february. it looks lovely. thanks very much. let's take a look at today's papers. the new european has a striking image with the headline "house of chaos!" it's talking about the resignations yesterday of three mps from the tory party and says the brexit voters should be the first to go. a fantastic front page. that's great! the daily telegraph quotes one of the pro—remain trio saying the tories won't exist "if we do ourjobs properly". the mail also leads with the tory defectors but the main picture shows shamima begum and her baby and asks if he'll be her passport home. the daily mirror features pictures from the brit awards last night

and also reports on the mp departures, saying they have left the party "in chaos", with the prime minister braced for more defections. we will speak to philipp hammond, the chancellor, later and we will obviously address that with him. the time is 6:19am. where will you start? the news that broke yesterday, that merger with sainsbury‘s and asda could be off. people are trying to work out what that means. sainsbury‘s shares died yesterday. it was a mortal blow to the asda deal. these are just provisional findings from the cma. that's the regulator that looks into market competition. the findings aren't good. they have said they have serious competition concerns.

the takeover is close to collapse. we heard from the chief executive yesterday, he was pretty firm in his criticism and describe the findings is outrageous and said he would contest them. but a lot of speculation out this morning over his future. it says there is something fishy going on in the watchdog's reports but this could mean that mike coupe has to find a newjob. also, walmart, that owns asda, the us retail giant, potentially now looking for a new buyer. if they cannot get the deal with sainsbury‘s, it could look to off—load asda to someone else. so, expect a lot of repercussions from this because frankly yesterday a big shock to the city and to sainsbury‘s. shock to the city and to sainsbury's. the back pages dominated by raheem sterling, as you might imagine. a lot of focus on the vir issue, the video system, it took

over four minutes to make a decision around a handball, which was schalke's first penalty. it is less ofa schalke's first penalty. it is less of a story now that man city won the game, ithink of a story now that man city won the game, i think we would have focused more on game, i think we would have focused more on it doctor mike where they deemed to have made the correct decision? up to a point. the referee could not actually see the screen because it was broken, he only had one monitor that he could see and it was broken. just to explain, in the ar in football, he is the sole arbiter and has to see the image because in some other sports you have someone else watching it elsewhere. they have someone else but ultimately it is down to the referee, he makes the final decision, so if you cannot see the monitor, it's a little bit awkward. it's an interesting one, a lot of debate on twitter last night about whether or not that was a penalty or a handball. but he decided it was. and there's one more story, in the

daily mail, a crackdown on drones at cheltenham this year. this has been an issue before. previously, it has been more about betting, people sending drones with cameras over a paddock? two one—upmanship but this time they are trying to say it's more of a terrorist threats about safety. they have stopped over 200 illegal drone flights at major events last year. interesting because yesterday we reported that airports are now expanding the zone 25 kilometres, around three miles, after the disruption at gatwick. and you have a story on the press. yes, here we are. this is the story, pay attention, now. why do sea birds have stripes? camouflage?

—— zebras -- zebras to attract a mate? 0k. one of -- zebras to attract a mate? ok. one of us this rate. the simple answer after an exhaustive study, they studied horses, zebras and they addressed horses as zebras in the study and it was to find out the point of the stripes and now we know the point of the straits is it deterrence flies. apparently, flies, as they think where to land, as they get close to the zebre's stripes, they are confused and land elsewhere. why would a stripe confuse a flight? you would have to ask the fly. next time we are on

holiday with mosquito issues, dressed as a zebre. i could just see you like that. this study was done in somerset. they should have perhaps done it in hotter climes to be more accurate. it's all valuable work. we will see you both later. we will have the weather later. it is 6:24am. the sexual abuse claims surrounding the roman catholic church is its ‘most urgent crisis' to address — that's according to pope francis. today, he will open the first global summit at the vatican on child abuse reform, attended by senior bishops from around the world. from rome, our religion editor martin bashir reports. i was then about seven or eight years old. i became the little friend of the chaplain... on every continent, priests have been betraying trust and abusing children. every time that he commit abuse

to me, he sent me to another priest to confess myself. chrissie foster's family was torn apart when both her daughters were sexually assaulted by the same priest. it's very debilitating, the impact on the victim. but on the families, yeah, it's such a betrayal. and they had the knowledge of these crimes, they hid it, they moved perpetrators on, they kept it a secret. a royal commission accused 7% of australia's priests of abusing children. in germany, a study found 3600 children had been abused by nearly 1700 clergy. and in the state of pennsylvania alone, 300 priests abused more than 1000 children. the leader of roman catholics in england and wales acknowledges the breadth of the challenge now

facing the church. obviously, it's not confined to the catholic church, it's in every culture, it's in every part of society, but it's found a home in the church, and that's terrible. the vatican says the summit will help develop policies and practices to address the crisis. but is that possible in a global church? chrissie foster welcomes the summit, but says any changes to church practice are too late. i have absolutely no faith in them, i don't even know that they believe in god, how can they, when this awful, hideous crime means nothing to them? the burden now rests with pope francis. the outcome could be the defining moment of his papacy. martin bashir, bbc

news, at the vatican. and if you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this report, help and support is available. you can find out more from the bbc action line, the details are on screen now. good morning from bbc london news. i'm sara orchard. there are calls for the government to urgently publish a report into tumble dryers that could pose a fire risk. a whirlpool dryer was the cause of a 2016 tower block fire in shepherds bush. a review into these appliances was orded last may. consumer body which? want the finding released, saying they've got concerns over the company's efforts to fix potentially dangerous machines. in a statement — whirlpool

say their modifications have been ‘extensively tested' and they've had no reports of these fixes failing. "we thoroughly investigate all concerns relating to our products as soon as they are reported to us. over 60% of litter in the thames basin would disappear if we moved away from single use plastics, according to a new report. a series of river cleans by the marine conservation society and charity groups found the majority of waste was made up of single—use items such as metal drink cans, food packaging and plastic bottles. they're calling for a deposit return scheme to cut not only plastic pollution but from other materials such as metal and glass. in football, arsenal women are out to retain the league cup trophy this weekend when they take on manchester city in the final in sheffield. the gunners beat the same opponents 1—0 when they met in last year 5 final, and the two teams currently lead the way in the women 5 super league they'll want to come and, you know, put a stamp on us, and to put that right, and we'll also want to retain the trophy. so it'll be a great game against two of the top teams in this country. let's take a look at the travel situation now... on the tubes we've got minor delays on the picadilly line

from raynerws lane to uxbridge, a good service on all other lines. on the roads traffic is building on the a13 westbound from dagenham into barking. in edmonton, the a10—10 fore street is closed at the claremont st roundabout following a police incident overnight. and on the m25, the inside lane is closed anticlockwise near the clacket lane services following a collision. now the weather. the mild weather continues and it looks set to stay into the weekend. bright sunny spells will come through in the afternoon. a fairly cloudy start, the best of the breaks developing into the afternoon. some brighter or sunny spells. light winds. this evening, clear spells to begin with. through the night, low

cloud and fog developing. temperatures falling to three celsius. tomorrow, dense mist and fog to start, that could be slow to clear. depending how fast that clears, it will be mild temperatures similarto clears, it will be mild temperatures similar to today. a similar story into the weekend. brightening with sunny spells. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now though it's back to charlie and naga. hello. this is breakfast with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. it's 6:30. we'll bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment, but also on breakfast this morning, we'll talk to the mp sarah wollaston about her decision to defect from the conservative party to the independent group set up by former labour mps.

this is the greatest show. the stars were out for last we ll have some of the highlights later. and we ll meet the funeral director taking a different approach to death, making ceremonies more personal. her work has now been featured in a new film, and we ll have more after 8:30. good morning. here's a summary of today's main stories from bbc news. three mps who resigned from the conservatives yesterday say a significant number of their former collea g u es significant number of their former colleagues are also considering leaving the party. anna soubry, sarah wollaston and heidi allen have joined the eight mps who resigned from labour to form the independent group. the prime minister said she was saddened by their decision. the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, said they should resign and put

themselves up for election. theresa may has said progress has been made in talks about changes to the brexit deal that could win mps' backing, but admitted time is of the essence. the prime minister met the european commission president jean—claude juncker in brussels european commission president jean—claudejuncker in brussels to discuss legally binding guarantees over the irish border. the eu has consistently said it will not reopen discussions over the withdrawal agreement agreed in november. bangladesh has rejected suggestions that shamima begum is one of their citizens. they have said there is no question she will be allowed into the country. the uk is stripping the 19—year—old, who joined the so—called islamic state in syria four years ago, of her british nationality but such a move is only possible if an individual is eligible for citizenship elsewhere. the home secretary sajid javid said last night he would not leave an individual stateless. pope francis will today open a summit at the vatican on child abuse reform in the roman catholic church. bishops from around the world

have travelled to rome as the church attempts to deal with what the pope calls its most urgent crisis. the conference will focus on educating clergy and raising awareness, but campaigners are calling for more radical action. some breaking news overnight, a huge fire in a densely—populated area of the bangladesh capital has killed at least 78 people. the flames broke out in an apartment block in dhaka, where the ground floor was used to store chemicals. it's thought a gas cylinder may have started the fire, which quickly spread through the floors and to nearby buildings. many other people have been injured and authorities there say the number of fatalities could increase. the fire is now under control. gas hobs and boilers could be banned from new homes within six years to meet carbon emissions targets. the committee on climate change, which advises the government, says much more must also be done on existing homes, such as draught proofing and external shading to prepare for the effects of climate change. the government says the uk has reduced carbon emissions faster than any other g7 country. calvin harris was the big winner

at last night's brits, picking up two awards for best single and producer of the year. the 1975 were named best band and album of the year. beyonce and jay z collected their award for best international group, stood in front of a portrait of meghan, the duchess of sussex. that's very cool. they must have had their reasons. i think they did, it is to do with the music video they have done that has a mona lisa, so instead of standing in front of her, they stood in front of the duchess of sussex. in front of her, they stood in front of the duchess of sussexlj in front of her, they stood in front of the duchess of sussex. i did not know that, i just thought they were big fans. i think they are as well! speaking of big fans. manchester city. their fans will have been at their wits end last

night. right up to the final few minutes of their match last night with schalke, it looks like it was going to be a 2—1 defeat. that man behind you, raheem sterling, scoring the winner, leroy sane equalised for them. there was drama, a red card, but despite all of that, city managed to battle back to take a 3— to lead back to manchester for the second lead of that last 16 tie, which will be hard pushed to match the sheer drama of last night's game, as david ornstein reports. celebration for manchester city at the end of a remarkable game. this was the latest stage in their pursuit of the one trophy they've yet to win, and against schalke, city quickly signalled their intent, punishing some ponderous play through sergio aguero. after a check, the goal stood, but if you thought the video assistant referee was meant to remove controversy, well, think again.

at the other end, schalke wanted a penalty for handball. another var check, and four minutes later it was given. the home side level. soon city's night would go from bad to worse. a second penalty, nabil bentaleb on target again. schalke into a shock lead. indeed, it shocked the visitors into life, and although they were reduced to ten men, leroy sane returned to haunt his former club before raheem sterling provided the final flourish. a timely boost for city and their european dream ahead of the second leg. david ornstein, bbc news. so city managed a much coveted away win which is obviously good news for their champions league campaign and they are still in with a chance of claiming four titles this season. but pep guardiola still isn't happy and says they need big improvements before they will ever become champions of europe.

we gave the first goal. we gave the second one. and we gave the red card. so in that level, we all have chances, too, and are not ready to fight for the champions league. but the result is good. i know how difficult it is to play in germany. hopefully our fans can help us in the second leg, and hopefully we can improve for the future. over in spain, atletico madrid had a goal ruled out before scoring two more. they beat cristiano ronaldo'sjuventus 2—0. alfredo morelos scored four goals on his return from suspension as rangers demolished ten—man kilmarnock 5—0 in the scottish cup andy halliday claimed rangers' other goal in the fifth round replay. they're away to aberdeen in the quarterfinals. fran kirby and beth england both scored hat—tricks as third—placed chelsea thrashed bristol city 6—0 in the women's super league. leaders manchester city won

3—1 at home to everton. arsenal, who are second, beat yeovil, and there were wins for brighton and west ham. england's cricketers showed why they're favourites for this summer's world cup, with a magnificent victory in the first one day international against west indies in barbados. the hosts had set an imposing total, thanks largely to chris gayle's brilliant innings of 135. but centuries from jason roy and joe root helped england towards their highest ever successful run chase. jos buttler eventually hitting the winning runs to see england go past that target of 360 and go one up in the five—match series. an emotional steve stricker was close to tears as he told a news conference what it means to him to be handed the task of regaining golf‘s ryder cup. stricker will lead the usa team next year at his seventh straight ryder cup, this time in his home state of wisconsin as captain.

you know, some people see this, and they don't think i'm very passionate or fiery about playing the game of golf and what i do for a living. but deep down i'm very competitive. we want to win this more than ever, and i'm here to help in any way i can. so i'm very blessed and happy to be here. we will have to wait until 2020 to see that happen, but it seems the right choice for that side. he was the overwhelming favourite for the job. he is very liked, very popular man. thank you very much, see you later on. it is 6:39am. the formation of the new independent group, made up of both labour and conservative politicians, has unsettled westminster in the last few days. but how do the constituents of those who have defected feel? breakfast‘s tim muffett has been to south cambridgeshire — represented by heidi allen — who until yesterday, was a conservative. shepreth in south cambridgeshire.

it was mentioned almost 1,000 years ago in the domesday book. there has been a pub on this site since the 17th century. so, has local mp heidi allen made an historical blunder, or helped shape the future of british politics? when history books look back, hopefully this will be the beginning of people standing up for what they believe in and not letting, you know, the brexiteers run the tory party any more. i think if you were going to make any changes, which ever way you want to go, it's probably better to do that from within. it's very sad, what's happening in the government at the moment. everything seems to be very mixed up, and nobody seems to know what they're doing, really. people here did vote for a conservative mp. they haven't got now a conservative mp. what you think about that? maybe the ideas that people voted for aren't the same any more, so they've changed for her and the people who voted her in. the south cambridgeshire constituency was created in 1997,

and until yesterday has always been conservative. at the teacake tea room, mandy thornton has a lot to digest. if i'm honest, when i sort of analyse it, ifeel a little bit betrayed. why is that? because she's supposed to be representing us, and i did vote tory, so i'm not sure where that leaves us. i'm not sure where it leaves brexit. i think the long and short of it, it just leaves me feeling a bit lost. anna soubry also became a tory mp in 2010. her constituency is broxtowe in nottinghamshire. i'm not quite sure how i feel about that. i'm quite surprised. i thought she would stick it out. it will be interesting. will there be a by—election? they should try and just unite and just get this for the country, or just stick together, because it's too late to be divided now. totnes in devon. since 2010 sarah wollaston has held this seat. she is a former gp, and now a former tory. i think i'll probably vote for her.

and i'm not a tory, i'm a lib dem. but good for her. i think we've seen politics first hand how it really is, and i think people will think twice about voting in the future, i know we will. a time of political change, and it's notjust mps rethinking the way they'll vote. tim muffett, bbc news. so it's definitely caused a few u psets so it's definitely caused a few upsets hasn't it? among the leaders at least, theresa may says she is very disappointed, jeremy corbyn has said that these mps should resign, and then put themselves up for re—election. there is also quite a bit of confusion as to what the position is, who you voted for in those constituencies. and it was fascinating watching some of the press conference yesterday when these three former conservative mps stood up and answered what was some time some quite tricky questions about why they were putting themselves, not putting

themselves up for another by—election. sarah wollaston is one of those, and we will be speaking to her directly later in the programme. we will also be speaking to philip hammond, chancellor of the exchequer. two things for him this morning, of course brexit negotiations, we know theresa may was in brussels yesterday. what will come out of those? but also of course right at the core of the conservative party, what is happening? it is 17 minutes to seven. i tell you what we do know what is happening. it's getting warmer. we are at that point in february where it feels as if we are sneaking out of winter now, because it can be a really miserable month, can't it? it can be very dull, you are quite right, and in meteorological terms, the 1st of march we start classing as a spring, just so we have a standard and we can measure each year against each year. but this morning it is a mild start to the day if you haven't yet ventured out. it is quite cloudy as

well and we have spots of rain in the western showers across east anglia, but it will brighten up as we go through the day, and temperatures could well reach 70 degrees. if we follow our air mass chart along, and the wind, the source of the air crossing our shores today is from the caribbean. we still have this southerly wind, but it is bringing in a fair bit of cloud as well. we have had some brea ks cloud as well. we have had some breaks in the cloud across the north—east of scotland, it is cold with some frost, some patchy mist and fog in parts of the south—west, and fog in parts of the south—west, and also south—west wales, but that will lift, and through the afternoon you can see how it starts to brighten up quite nicely. blustery winds across the north west, temperatures today looking widely into the mid teens, locally 16, possibly 17 across parts of northern scotland. as we head on through the evening and overnight period, still some clear skies around, a weather front approaching from the west introducing thicker cloud and one or two showers, but then we have also got some patchy mist and fog forming

across parts of southern england, the midlands, east anglia into the south—east. some of this will be dense, so do take note if you are travelling tonight or even first thing tomorrow, because it will take its time to clear. high pressure is still in charge of our weather tomorrow. the weather front making a little more progress in from the north—west, so it is windy, as you can tell from the isobars, but focus on the fog. that could take until mid or even late morning before it does left, and then when it does, england and wales having a sunny day, the sunshine turning hazy through the afternoon with scotland and northern ireland at times a little more cloud, and one or two showers in the north—east. with the weather front approaching, the cloud will thicken from the west and we will thicken from the west and we will start to see some rain. temperature wise, widely once again in the mid—teens, we could hit 18 tomorrow in parts of north—east england, also parts of wales, particularly the north—east and also north devon. if you like it that bit

milder, it is coming. on friday, you can see the snow that we have got out in southern parts of europe, high pressure still dominated, the air moves around it in a clockwise direction, so our source changes to north africa and also spain, so still a mild day during the course of saturday. temperature wise for the next few days, very much depends on how much sunshine we see and how quickly any mist and fog that has formed overnight actually lifts. but this is what we expect on saturday, a lot of dry weather and temperatures into the mid—teens quite widely, possibly a little bit more, depending on the variables i have just mentioned, but you can see towards the west and weather front coming in, introducing thicker cloud and some rain, but nonetheless still 12 degrees in stornoway. for sunday into monday, the same caveats apply, the fog and how much sunshine we get, but we are still looking at at least 12 or 13. i like it when it is above average, i know it is wrong too, but i do

like it. you are allowed an opinion! carol, thank you very much. i asked the question, ben, how many times have we done a lead into an article saying, what can we do about the high street? indeed. a group of mps have issued a report calling for a series of wide reforms to help town centres. their big gripe — that high street shops pay business rates that are between 1.5% and 6.5% of their turnover. way more than their online rivals. so they want taxes on companies like amazon to balance the scales. they have welcomed a £650 million boost that the government gave to local authorities to help revive high streets, but they say it doesn't go far enough. in the next round of funding

they want the money to go up in order to properly meet the scale of the challenge. but it isn't all down to central government. mps say every local authority needs a so—called living document as part of their local plans. these need to set out the vision for their high streets and they need to adapt to reflect trends and changes. one high street that knows all about making bottom—up, local plans is crickhowell, near abergavenny in wales. it was named the best high street in the uk in the great british high street awards last november. the woman behind that win was named a high street hero. emma corfield walters is with me this morning. as charlie says, more reports and proposals for the change in the high street, but you have actually done this, you managed to turn around the fortu nes this, you managed to turn around the fortunes for your high street? how? it is very much down to the community. we have a small community in crickhowell that we are very much working together, so we have got residents, people working in the town, community groups and visitors

who love the town all working together to try to make sure that oui’ together to try to make sure that our high street thrives, it is important to them that it thrives but also that it is sustainable, so we are looking for ten years into the future to try to figure out what the future to try to figure out what the problems are now so that we can work them out. also we have a great retail mix with some innovative businesses that know they need to get behind the counter, behind the till point, to actually do something about the high street. we are looking at some of these pictures there of crickhowell. you have all had to work together. but what can you do practically? we have a free kit for towns to use, that we developed after i went to a conference in halifax. so we decided to develop that, create some social media, and one of the key messages is the £5 message, you get everybody in the community to spend £5, and in crickhowell it was worth £1.623

million to the local economy, and that spreads. it is not instead of the whole shop, but as part of the shopin the whole shop, but as part of the shop in the week, so going to the supermarket like everybody does, instead of buying their chicken in tesco or wherever, they buy it in the butcher's. and those little things make a big difference. online firms managed to circumnavigate some of those big taxes, they managed to pay much less than high street firms that really feel that. without that change, can we really be talking about a change in how high streets work? i think it is part of the solution. we pay i think 2.4 of our annual turnover in business rates, whereas an online retailer like amazon it is not .7. as a book—seller, that is unfair. so it isa book—seller, that is unfair. so it is a case of levelling the playing field in terms of the business rates. but also there is elements of absentee landlords that we have problems with, too. so yes, the business rates reform would help, but i think it needs to go further

in trying to figure out how we fairly tax online retailers, whether thatis fairly tax online retailers, whether that is a sales tax or a green tax. and there was a proposal this week about making town centres have more office space. we know a lot of it is now given to residential, but office space puts workers there during the day, and if they are there, they need cafe is, shops, restaurants, bars. it is about trying to come up with a cohesive plan falls. it is chicken and egg, because you want to attract the workers to be there in the first place, so it is about innovative use of retail space, not just opening another cafe or hairdressers or nail bar, people looking to invest in the town with a business, to do something a little bit different and make sure the service offering is good, because thatis service offering is good, because that is what people come for, the experience. it is about that experience. it is about that experience. emma, congratulations on yourwin, experience. emma, congratulations on your win, nice to see you, and let's hope other towns and cities can follow your example. emma corfield

walters, high—street hero of 2018. thank you very much. we're looking ahead now to a special day for bbc breakfast — tomorrow we're helping to commemorate a remarkable act of courage and self—sacrifice by american airmen during the second world war — and the actions of the man who keeps their memory alive. raf and us air force planes will perform a fly—past above the sheffield park where an american bomber, crashed in 1944, killing all ten men on board. a young boy called tony foulds saw the plane come down. he's spent the last 75 years tending to the memorial in that park. we'll be there tomorrow for the fly—past but first, breakfast'sjohn maguire tells the story of that final journey. on the 22nd of february 1944, the crew of the mi amigo took off for a bombing raid over northern denmark. it was to be their last flight. the aircraft crashed into endcliffe park in sheffield, having deliberately avoided nearby houses. very few of the b17

flying fortresses remain. here at the american air museum, part of the imperial war museum in duxford, you can walk under the wings of the iconic bomber. and for megan leo, a relative of one of the crew, imagine what flying on board must have been like. he was my age when he would have been in there, and when he died. and just seeing all that, i can't even imagine. there aren't words for it, really. melchor hernandez was the one who gave the mi amigo, "my friend" in spanish, its nickname. hisjob on board as the bombardier would have meant him sitting here at the very nose of the plane. i can't even imagine sitting in that cramped space with nine other men whose lives are so connected to mine. and just remembering the names, i think, and knowing the ten and knowing the mi amigo and having that forever etched in our hearts and in our memories. the aircraft were popular

with their crews who lived, flew and fought together, a band of brothers. you're in there with ten guys who you're flying with all the time, and you'll be living with them, so yes, the camaraderie, and getting through mission after mission after mission, you know, you build up that friendship and that, obviously you look out for each other. and those strong bonds of camaraderie remain among modern day aircrews. this is raf lakenheath, the home of the b15 strike eagle jets that will form the main body of tomorrow's fly—past. these crews will have flown hundreds of missions, both in training and in combat, but this memorial flight over sheffield is something very different, something very special. and one aircraft will leave the formation as it flies over, the symbolic missing man. it's a very rare honour, and it's only bestowed on crews that

have passed and for special events like this, and again, when this got brought forward, it's a special way for all of us to honour all those aircrew, both american and in the raf, that passed over us. this is not only a special way for us to honour the fallen mi amigo aircrew, but also all the aircrew that have passed leading up to those events. we love the opportunity to take the opportunity to another crew of the mi amigo, and the guys that came before us and were able to pave the way for us is a huge honour. 75 years ago, ten young men gave their lives serving their country and ours. the fly—past aircraft will carry their names as they are commemorated by their present—day counterparts, by their families and by thousands of thankful strangers. lest we forget. john maguire, bbc news, at raf lakenheath in suffolk. and here's how it will work tomorrow. ten planes are setting off from three raf bases before flying

over sheffield, and it will all happen at around a quarter to nine. brea kfast happen at around a quarter to nine. breakfast is going to be there all morning, along with some of the former m n's relatives, and also with tony who has done so much to honour their memory. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news, i'm sara orchard. there are calls for the government to urgently publish a report into tumble dryers that could pose a fire risk. a whirlpool dryer was the cause of a 2016 tower block fire in shepherds bush. a review into these appliances was orded last may. consumer body which? want the findings released, saying they've got concerns over the company's efforts to fix potentially dangerous machines. ina in a statement, whirlpool say their modifications have been extensively tested, and they have had no reports of the fixes failing. over 60% of litter in the thames

basin would disappear if we moved away from single use plastics, according to a new report. a series of river cleans by the marine conservation society and charity groups found the majority of waste was made up of metal drink cans, food packaging and plastic bottles. they're calling for a deposit return scheme to cut not only plastic pollution but from other materials such as metal and glass. in football, arsenal women are out to retain the league cup trophy this weekend when they take on manchester city in the final in sheffield. the gunners beat the same opponents 1—0 when they met in last year 5 final, and the two teams currently lead the way in the women 5 super league. they'll want to come and, you know, put a stamp on us, and to put that right, and we'll also want to retain the trophy. so it'll be a great game against two of the top teams in this country. let's take a look at the travel situation now. on the tubes we've got minor delays on the picadilly line from rayners lane to uxbridge,

a good service on all other lines. on the roads, northbound traffic is building at the blackwall tunnel. bethnal green road is closed between wilmot street and pundersons gardens following a collision to the west of bethnal green station and on the m25, two lanes are closed anticlockwise approaching j19 watford following a collision, with congestion back to j21 the m1. now the weather with lucy martin. the mild weather continues and it looks set to stay into the weekend. bright sunny spells will come through in the afternoon. a fairly cloudy start, the best of the breaks developing into the afternoon. some brighter or sunny spells. light winds. this evening, clear spells to begin with. through the night, low

cloud and fog developing. temperatures falling to three celsius. tomorrow, dense mist and fog to start, that could be slow to clear. depending how fast that clears, it will be mild, temperatures similar to today. a similar story into the weekend. brightening with sunny spells. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now though it's back to charlie and naga — bye for now. good morning welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. our headlines today: braced for further defections. three former conservative mps who have quit the party say a significant number of colleagues

are also considering walking out. no breakthrough in brussels, but theresa may insists progress has been made on agreeing changes to the brexit deal. the british teenager who joined is in syria says she's shocked by the home secretary's decision to remove her uk citizenship. taking off or facing turbulence? with issues around drones, expansion, brexit and the future of air travel — there are lots of questions for heathrow airport's boss to answer. i'll be speaking to him this hour. game changer... manchester city stage a fight back in germany.. as raheem sterling scores a late winner to seal a 3—2 win over schalke in the champions league. hughjackman kicked off the show in style but who were the big winners at this year's brits? we'll find out.

good morning, a mild but cloudy start. patchy rain in the west, showers in east anglia, those will fade and it will brighten up through the day. more details in 15 minutes. good morning. it's thursday, the 21st february. our top story: three mps who defected from the conservative party say a significant number of their former colleagues are also considering walking out. in a letter to the prime minister, anna soubry, heidi allen and sarah wollaston said the tory party had been taken over by hard brexiteers. they've joined eight mps who resigned from labour to form the independent group, which now has more mps in parliament than the dup and the same number as the liberal democrats. anna soubry criticised theresa may for allowing brexit to "define and shape" the conservative party. the hardline anti—eu awkward squad that have destroyed every leader for the last 40 years are now running the conservative party from top to toe. they are the conservative party.

let's get the latest from our political correspondent ben wright in westminster. how significant are these resignations? what about the idea moore could join? good morning, well, yes, that's the question. are there going to be further defections? nobody is sure but it is clear this new group has momentum and i think the recruit of those three tories was crucial to giving the impression this is a growing group representing the centre of british politics in parliament. the question is whether numbers will grow. sarah wollaston, one of the former tory mps, said this morning that she thought one third of the tory party may follow

suit eventually. i think that is overstating it but there are certainly conservative mps and even cabinet ministers who would, if there was a no—deal brexit, be very tempted tojoin there was a no—deal brexit, be very tempted to join this new group. speaking yesterday in brussels, theresa may accepted the issue of europe had been eating away at the tory party for a number of years in such but disappointed these three had left. the question of the uk cosmic relationship with the european union has been a source of disagreement in my party and also in the country for a long time and leaving the european union after over 40 years was never going to be easy but i believe that by delivering on our manifesto commitment and on the result of the referendum, we are doing the right thing for the country and that by doing this we can move forward together for that brighter future for the country. i do think labour mps are who this group is most likely to attract. the issue of

anti—semitism, brexit, and there are at least two or three on the brink of joining at least two or three on the brink ofjoining this at least two or three on the brink of joining this group. at least two or three on the brink ofjoining this group. and of course we need to talk about brexit because this is some of the reason that the conservative mps left their party, theresa may has been to brussels. more negotiations to come? brexit is the unifying issue for this new group, despairat the unifying issue for this new group, despair at how these negotiations have gone. they want another referendum. i think all of them do. theresa may was meeting at jean—claude juncker last night, the european commission president, they have been discussing the irish backstop, trying to prevent a heart border on the island of ireland. the parliamentary tory party are... it seems a tough ask on the government because the eu has said the deal is

not there to be opened by the government is hammering away. the brexit secretary as they are, all trying to make progress ahead of another series of big votes in the house of commons this time next week. i think this will be a really important moments, including for the life of this new group. it is felt this don't like brexit is going further off course, then i think that can be a real recruitment moment for this new group of mps. exciting again. thanks very much. it would be interested to hear from a senior government figure and in five minutes we will be speaking live to the chancellor, philipp hammond, to find out about brexit and about those defections. that's coming up shortly. bangladesh has rejected suggestions that shamima begum, who fled to syria from london four years ago tojoin so—called islamic state, is a citizen of their country. the uk is stripping her of her british nationality but such a move is only possible if an individual is eligible for citizenship elsewhere. it was thought the 19—year—old had bangladeshi citizenship

through her mother. kathryn stanczyszyn has more. a disappointed shamima begum at the al—hawl refugee camp in syria. the 19—year—old, who left school to join islamic state, and hasjust given birth, wanted to return to the uk with her newborn son. instead, she found out the government was taking away her british nationality, something she says is unjust. her baby, who she was carrying under her clothes, will still be british. i thought they would be a bit more sympathetic because of my situation. i did explain that i didn't know fully what i was getting into. and, you know, i made a mistake. and i was hoping that... they would have some sympathy and understanding, but clearly not. four years ago, when shamima begum left britain aged 15, police said she'd been groomed.

now she has been told her uk citizenship will be revoked, and she should rely instead on her possible bangladeshi nationality through her mother. but the bangladeshi foreign minister has stated she is not a dual citizen. she's never been to bangladesh, and there was no question of her being allowed into the country. in an interview last night, home secretary sajid javid said he would not leave any individual stateless. but some say this is what shamima begum is now facing. her appeal is likely to take months to go through the courts. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. some breaking news overnight, a huge fire in a densely—populated area of the bangladesh capital has killed at least 78 people. the flames broke out in an apartment block in dhaka, where the ground floor was used to store chemicals. it's thought a gas cylinder may have started the fire, which quickly spread through the floors and to nearby buildings. many other people have been injured and authorities there say the number of fatalities could increase. the fire is now under control.

16 people have been hurt after a ceiling collapsed on families at a pontins holiday camp in somerset. it happened at the brean sands site, near weston—super—mare last night. eyewitnesses descibed hearing a cracking noise, before a large section of the roof came down in the bar, exposing live damaged electrics. police say no one was trapped under the debris, and most people had minor injuries. calvin harris was a big winner at last night's brits. he bagged two awards, for "best single" and "producer of the year". the 1975 were also double winners, for "best british group" and "album of the year". our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba's report contains some flashing images. # tell me, do you wanna go? hugh jackman kicked the night off, performing from the greatest showman, the movie soundtrack 2018's biggest selling album. and the winner is...

the night's big winners were poprock band, the 1975, taking home best album and best british group, they used their speech to speak out against the prejudice facing women in the industry, quoting journalist laura snapes. the male misogynist acts are examined for nuance and defended as traits of difficult artists. whilst women and those who call them out are treated as hysterics who don't understand art. best british female went to... jorja smith! while best british male was george ezra. little mix won best video, which also features nicki minaj. the winners of best international group, the carters, aka beyonce and jay z, who accepted their award in front of a portrait

of meghan, duchess of sussex. and singer pink, received an outstanding contribution to music award, and closed the show with a medley of hits. lizo mzimba, bbc news. it is 7:10am. we are going back to oui’ it is 7:10am. we are going back to our top story this morning. more on our top story now — the defection of three conservative mps to the independent group. heidi allen said last night a third of tory mps are fed up with the party's direction, and she's expecting more tojoin them. so what does this mean for the party? the chancellor philipp hammond joins us now from westminster. your thoughts following those defections? obviously very disappointed, the conservative party is and always has been and always

must be a broad church with room for a very wide range of views and anna soubry was a junior minister in my department when i was defence secretary, so i worked with her very closely and i very much hope that at a point in the not—too—distant future, the three of them will feel co mforta ble future, the three of them will feel comfortable coming back in to the conservative party fold. if we look at the quotes, that is, to be honest, sounding unlikely. heidi allen says, i am tired of feeling numb, iwant allen says, i am tired of feeling numb, i want to be part of something better. in a way, that cuts right to the chase, doesn't it? heidi has a lwa ys the chase, doesn't it? heidi has always had a strong point of view on issues relating to socialjustice. i believe we have a strong agenda in this area. what the prime minister has done a racial disparity audits, the commitment she has made, the parity of esteem for mental health in the national health service, her

action on the gender pay gap, all of these are things which address the areas heidi in particular has always been so concerned about but there is no getting away from the fact the brexit issue is distracting us, all of us, from getting on with the very important domestic agenda. and i know the prime minister is desperate to get this brexit issue resolved, so to get this brexit issue resolved, so that you can get back to delivering on the commitment she made on the steps of downing street injuly, 2016, made on the steps of downing street in july, 2016, which made on the steps of downing street injuly, 2016, which is what she sees as her core mission in politics and she is just desperate to be able to get on with delivering it. on that note, people may have read the letter these three wrote to the prime minister and i shalljust read out here, curious as to what you make of it. they say, open quote we find it unconscionable that he party once trusted on the economy more than any other is now recklessly marching the country to the cliff

edge of no—deal. close quote you could have said that, couldn't you? no, i reject that, we are not marching to the cliff edge of no—deal. marching to the cliff edge of no-deal. how far are we? how many days? 36 days to exit today. is that not close? of course. we are working flat out to achieve an outcome with the eu that will allow parliament to ratify the deal and allow us to move through a transition period into a new relationship with the eu. one that protects our economy and britishjobs and that protects our economy and british jobs and we have been remarkably successful, we created 3.5 million newjobs since 2010, we've just seen data in the last few days which shows real wages rising faster than they've risen since the financial crisis, so, the fundamentals of the economy are in

good shape. but of course, brexit is a large black cloud hanging over it and we have to get this result. we have to compromise across parliament and get this result, so we can get on with creating the prosperity that people yearn for and addressing all these important domestic policy issues that these three have drawn attention to. if! make, the issues that these three have drawn attention to. if i make, the word i draw your attention to is unconscionable. what you say is true, stating the very obvious, which i know we do a fair bit, you are working for a deal. we know that. the unconscionable area lies around whether or not people like you, significant members of the government, are prepared to stay in your role in the cabinet if we go to a no—deal? and you can't say this is something dim and distant that we cannot talk about, it is so close and it is a real issue, so asking a question with that notion of

unconscionable, the shadow of that word hanging over us, are you prepared to be in a government that ta kes prepared to be in a government that takes this country into a no—deal? look, i have always said and i have been clear and consistent about this, that i think no—deal would be an extremely bad outcome. can we have one go at trying to answer the question, if you would?” have one go at trying to answer the question, if you would? i am answering it. we must do everything possible to avert that outcome. that is what i am doing now and what i believe is in the best interests of the country. that is what i will go on doing. i know this is extremely uncomfortable for business in particular but for people in general, that we are so close to the wire. unfortunately, in the nature of negotiations with the eu, and we've got plenty of them that we can refer to, the negotiations with greece a few years ago, these things do tend to go to the wire. with the

greatest respect, i am trying not to do that awful interrupting thing but with the greatest respect doctor you are doing the awful interrupting thing. we know what you are working for and achieve, my question is, and it comes to this issue of unconscionable, are you prepared to stay in the governments if we go to a no—deal scenario? if stay in the governments if we go to a no—dealscenario? if i'm stay in the governments if we go to a no—deal scenario? if i'm honest, it's a yes or no. you know the answer. all i'm going to say to you is that i will always do what i believe is in the best interests of the country. is it in the best interest of the country to go to a no—deal? interest of the country to go to a no-deal? no, definitely not. so that means you are prepared to leave the government? my job is to ensure the government? my job is to ensure the government gets a solution which does not take us to the no—deal precipice, i've been crystal clear about this for the last 2.5 years, thatis about this for the last 2.5 years, that is what i'm working for all day, so long as i believe i am able

to influence that outcome and help to influence that outcome and help to get us to a good outcome which will protect british jobs and prosperity in the future, that is what i will go on doing. can i ask you about the brussels talks? theresa may was there yesterday. can you shed any light on this? as it stands, our correspondent tells us no change, although theresa may is saying, i think she was confident that talks are ongoing? can you shed light on what has happened and what has changed ? light on what has happened and what has changed? they were good and constructive talks yesterday and i think thejoint press constructive talks yesterday and i think the joint press release afterwards did contain some important messaging, it talked about giving the uk guarantees that the backstop could only be a temporary arrangement and that's a word that hasn't been used before and i think

thatis hasn't been used before and i think that is significant. both sides have acknowledged the political declaration could be expanded, for example, to address concerns that have been expressed in some parts of the house of commons about workers' rights. we have always been clear that leaving the eu will not mean any diminution of workers' rights we've got people in the commons who wa nt to we've got people in the commons who want to see that included in the political declaration as part of the package. and the eu has agreed we can talk about expanding the political declaration to do that. there was also a discussion about the malthouse compromise, the idea of looking at alternative arrangements to replace the backstop in future and avoid having to go into it and we've agreed to work together, the eu and the uk, to how we can take that forward, because

that's a very important strand of reassurance for us that's a very important strand of reassurance for us here in the uk, that the eu will really engage with us on that the eu will really engage with us on that agenda, allowing us to work up an alternative arrangement and get it in place during the implementation period. one last thought, quickly, your best understanding as to what's happening next week. there may be an opportunity to bring a vote back to the house of commons but that will depend on progress made in the next few days, discussions are ongoing, the prime minister will go to sharm el—sheikh, although that's not the european council meeting, it is an eu arab summit but it will give her an opportunity to talk to some european counterparts on sunday, so thatis european counterparts on sunday, so that is a work in progress and we will look at what progress we are able to make over the next few days.

if we do not have a meaningful vote next week, there will be another very technical house of commons term, but another amendable motion tabled to allow the house of commons once again to debate how it wants to go forward. because frankly we have a problem in the house of commons, it knows what it's against, it's absolutely against a no—deal exit but it has struggled to come up with a clear message to the government about what it, as he house of commons, once as a way forward to avoid that outcome. and i am pleased the commons will have another opportunity next week. we appreciate your time this morning, thank you very much. that's philipp hammond, chancellor of the exchequer. you need to stop with those annoying interruptions. i apologise, people will make their judgments interruptions. i apologise, people will make theirjudgments at home, you try to get things right. there

you try to get things right. there you go. i think it is important to keep asking questions and they come to answer questions so we are trying to answer questions so we are trying to do our best. someone who always gets it right is carol. a male star to the day. in north—east scotland, that's not the case, closer to 1 degree. a mostly cloudy day, milder than yesterday, yesterday was just short of 15 in the north—east of scotland and today we could hit 17 because we are pulling all this mild air. the source of this is the caribbean. patchy rain in west wales, fizzling out through the morning, some drizzle in cumbria. showers across

east anglia, those will tend to fade and by the afternoon, brightening up. blustery winds across northern ireland in western scotland. temperatures peaking widely at 14-50, temperatures peaking widely at 14—50, locally, we could hit 16—17, depending on the sunshine stop a weather front approaching from the west this evening brings more cloud to western areas. spots of rain ahead of that. also, some fog forming, through the midlands, east anglia and the south—east. dense and problematic, so if you are travelling, bear that in mind. tomorrow morning, it will be slow to clear. we have a weather front still with us producing thicker cloud and rain and breezy across the north west. in the south, we start with

dense fog but that will be slow to lift, perhaps not until the afternoon that then these areas will enjoy hazy sunshine. for scotland, more cloud around and the odd spot of rain across the north—east. tomorrow, we could hit 18 celsius. north devon, north wales and north—east england. look at the snow across parts of south—eastern europe, high pressure means the area coming our way is coming around that. it is coming from africa and spain here. there will be a fair bit of dry weather and sunshine, a weather front in the west producing thicker cloud and also some rain.

depending on how fast the fog lifts and the amount of sunshine, that will have an impact on temperatures over the next few days. widely, 13-15. over the next few days. widely, 13—15. potentially higher. the same applies to sunday and monday. looking at the capital cities, the same for the whole of the uk. temperatures still above average. next week, high pressure remains in charge. thanks very much. it is 7:24am. the sexual abuse claims surrounding the roman catholic church is its ‘most urgent crisis' to address — that's according to pope francis. today, he will open the first global summit at the vatican on child abuse reform, attended by senior bishops from around the world. from rome, our religion editor martin bashir reports. i was then about seven or eight years old. i became the little friend of the chaplain...

on every continent, priests have been betraying trust and abusing children. every time that he commit abuse to me, he sent me to another priest to confess myself. chrissie foster's family was torn apart when both her daughters were sexually assaulted by the same priest. it's very debilitating, the impact on the victim. but on the families, yeah, it's such a betrayal. and they had the knowledge of these crimes, they hid it, they moved perpetrators on, they kept it a secret. a royal commission accused 7% of australia's priests of abusing children. in germany, a study found 3,600 children had been abused by nearly 1,700 clergy. and in the state of pennsylvania alone, 300 priests abused

more than 1,000 children. the leader of roman catholics in england and wales acknowledges the breadth of the challenge now facing the church. obviously, it's not confined to the catholic church, it's in every culture, it's in every part of society, but it's found a home in the church, and that's terrible. the vatican says the summit will help develop policies and practices to address the crisis. but is that possible in a global church? chrissie foster welcomes the summit, but says any changes to church practice are too late. i have absolutely no faith in them, i don't even know that they believe in god, how can they, when this awful, hideous crime means nothing to them? the burden now rests

with pope francis. the outcome could be the defining moment of his papacy. martin bashir, bbc news, at the vatican. you can get further advice from this number. we will be looking at this fly—past. and we have been waiting for this special moment. he has kept the memory alive at 75 years, we will be seeing those preparations for the big day tomorrow. lots to look forward to on this programme. time to find out what is happening where you are.

good morning from bbc london news, i'm sara orchard. there are calls for the government to urgently publish a report into tumble dryers that could pose a fire risk. a whirlpool dryer was the cause of a 2016 tower block fire in shepherds bush. a review into these appliances was orded last may. consumer body which? want the findings released, saying they've got concerns over the company's efforts to fix potentially dangerous machines. in a statement — whirlpool say their modifications have been ‘extensively tested' and they've had no reports of these fixes failing. over 60% of litter in the thames basin would disappear if we moved away from single use plastics, according to a new report. a series of river cleans by the marine conservation society and charity groups found the majority of waste was made up of metal drink cans, food packaging and plastic bottles. they're calling for a deposit return

scheme to cut not only plastic pollution but from other materials such as metal and glass. in football, arsenal women are out to retain the league cup trophy this weekend when they take on manchester city in the final in sheffield. the gunners beat the same opponents 1—0 when they met in last year 5 final, and the two teams currently lead the way in the women 5 super league they'll want to come and, you know, put a stamp on us, and to put that right, and we'll also want to retain the trophy. so it'll be a great game against two of the top teams in this country. let's take a look at the travel situation now...

now the weather with lucy martin. the mild weather continues and it looks set to stay into the weekend. bright sunny spells will come through in the afternoon. a fairly cloudy start, the best of the breaks developing into the afternoon. some brighter or sunny spells. light winds. this evening, clear spells to begin with. through the night, low cloud and fog developing. temperatures falling to three celsius. tomorrow, dense mist and fog to start, that could be slow to clear. depending how fast that clears, it will be mild, temperatures similar to today. a similar story into the weekend.

brightening with sunny spells. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. bye for now. hello. this is breakfast with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. good morning. here's a summary of this morning's main stories from bbc news. in the past few minutes, the chancellor philip hammond has told breakfast he's very disappointed with the decision of three conservative mps to leave the party. anna soubry, sarah wollaston and heidi allen havejoined the eight mps who resigned from labour to form the independent group. mr hammond said the door would be open for them to return. the conservative party is and always

has been and always must be a broad church with room for a very wide range of views. anna soubry was a junior minister in my department when i was defence secretary, so i worked with her very closely, and i very much hope that at a point in the not—too—distant future, the three of them will feel comfortable coming back into the conservative party fold. bangladesh has rejected suggestions that shamima begum is one of their citizens, and says there's "no question" of her being allowed into the country. the uk is stripping the 19—year—old, who joined the so—called islamic state in syria four years ago, of her british nationality but such a move is only possible if an individual is eligible for citizenship elsewhere. the home secretary sajid javid said last night he would not leave an individual stateless. overnight, a huge fire in a densely—populated area of the bangladesh capital has killed at least 78 people. the flames broke out in an apartment block in dhaka,

where the ground floor was used to store chemicals. it's thought a gas cylinder may have started the fire, which quickly spread through the floors and to nearby buildings. many other people have been injured and authorities there say the number of fatalities could increase. the fire is now under control. 18 people have been hurt after a ceiling collapsed on families at a pontins holiday camp in somerset. it happened at the brean sands site, near weston—super—mare last night. eyewitnesses descibed hearing a cracking noise, before a large section of the roof came down in the bar, exposing live damaged electrics. police say no one was trapped under the debris, and most people had minor injuries. calvin harris was the big winner at last night's brits, picking up two awards for best single and producer of the year. the 1975 were named "best band" and "album of the year". beyonce and jay z collected their award for best international group, stood in front of a portrait of meghan, the duchess of sussex.

and those are the main stories this morning. coming up on the programme, carol will have the weather, but first holly is here with the sport. a dramatic match yesterday with manchester city. two penalties, a man sent off, var, the video assistant referee, controversy, and assistant referee, controversy, and a really good hoof of a ball. absolutely, a classic goalfrom leroy sane. but it was the drama building up to it. this was against schalke in the champions league, it was always going to be dramatic game, the first leg, last 16 tie. at one point when manchester city were to— one down, most fans would be happy with that, so one away goal, thatis happy with that, so one away goal, that is good going, you'd be happy enough. but then in the last ten minutes, they flipped everything around, two goals came, which turned it around to 3—2. we had red cards,

we had var, video referee controversy, the whole works, everything you want in a champions league tie. but despite that it means city managing to battle back to ta ke means city managing to battle back to take that 3— to lead back to manchester for the second leg of that tie, which will be hard pushed to match the sheer drama of last night's game, as david ornstein reports. celebration for manchester city at the end of a remarkable game. this was the latest stage in their pursuit of the one trophy they've yet to win, and against schalke, city quickly signalled their intent, punishing some ponderous play through sergio aguero. after a check, the goal stood, but if you thought the video assistant referee was meant to remove controversy, well, think again. at the other end, schalke wanted a penalty for handball. another var check, and four minutes later it was given. the home side level. soon city's night would go from bad to worse. a second penalty, nabil

bentaleb on target again. schalke into a shock lead. indeed, it shocked the visitors into life, and although they were reduced to ten men, leroy sane returned to haunt his former club before raheem sterling provided the final flourish. a timely boost for city and their european dream ahead of the second leg. david ornstein, bbc news. so city managed a much coveted away win which is obviously good news for their champions league campaign and they are still in with a chance of claiming four titles this season. still top of the premier league as well, league cup final on sunday. but pep guardiola still isn't happy, and says they need big improvements before they will ever become champions of europe. we gave the first goal. we gave the second one. and we gave the red card. so in that level, we all have chances, too, and are not ready to fight for the champions league. but the result is good. i know how difficult

it is to play in germany. hopefully our fans can help us in the second leg, and hopefully we can improve for the future. alfredo morelos scored four goals on his return from suspension as rangers demolished ten—man kilmarnock 5—0 in the scottish cup andy halliday claimed rangers' other goal in the fifth round replay. they're away to aberdeen in the quarterfinals. fran kirby and beth england both scored hat—tricks as third placed chelsea thrashed bristol city 6—0 in the women's super league. leaders manchester city won 3—1 at home to everton. arsenal, who are second, beat yeovil, and there were wins for brighton and west ham. england's cricketers showed why they're favourites for this summer's world cup, with a magnificent victory in the first one day international against west indies in barbados. the hosts had set an imposing total, thanks largely to chris gayle's brilliant innings of 135. but centuries from jason roy and joe root helped england towards their highest ever

successful run chase. jos buttler eventually hitting the winning runs to see england go past that target of 360 and go one up in the five—match series. williams' formula 1 car finally got on to the track in barcelona yesterday, having missed two and half days of testing ahead of the new season. new recruit george russell was driving and and recorded the 13th fastest time on the day. the 21—year—old was eight seconds off the pace set by toro rosso's daniil kvyat. williams say it was "embarrassing" that their car was not ready in time. you know, you don't get to miss two days of testing without more than one issue, but we are not going to be discussing those issues in public. we need to concentrate our energies on getting this test done and getting as many laps on the board as possible, and then we will do our review after testing.

an emotional steve stricker was close to tears as he told a news conference what it means to him to be handed the task of regaining golf‘s ryder cup. stricker will lead the usa team next year at his seventh straight ryder cup, this time in his home state of wisconsin as captain. you know, some people see this, and they don't think i'm very passionate or fiery about playing the game of golf and what i do for a living. but deep down i'm very competitive. we want to win this more than ever, and i'm here to help in any way i can. so i'm very blessed and happy to be here. it's the bit you don't see at the start of the press conference, when he first sits down, you can see he is really emotional, his voice is shaking, you can see what it means to him. it is such a tournament, full of so much emotion. and when they fight

together, because golf is such an individual game, they are so used to being separate and against each other, but as a team, whether europe or the us, the camaraderie and the emotion is powerful. i know so many people who won't even golf fans, and they got totally wrapped up as you say in the camaraderie of it and the teamwork involved, and it's a very special competition. thank you, holly. we need emotion in things, carol brings emotion to the weather everyday! joymisery! give it your all, carol! good morning. it is a mild start to the day across most of the uk, the exception being scotland where we have clear skies and it is cold. today, for much of the uk, it is going to be fairly cloudy but still

mild. showing you the temperature gradient chart, if we follow it all the way back, the air that has originated over the caribbean is coming our way, as indicated by the ambers. some drizzle will linger for a time in cumbria before that fades, and showers across east anglia will fade through the course of the morning, and then in the afternoon we will see some brightness develop, some sunshine, but noticeably breezy across northern ireland in north—west scotland, with temperatures widely into the mid teens, and locally we could see 17 degrees. as we head on through the evening and overnight period, our weather front which is waiting in the wings in the atlantic will continue to bring in thicker cloud and eventually we will see some rain from this. at the same time we will see fog forming, take note of this across central and southern england into the midlands and east anglia, some of this fog being dense, and it could well be problematic, so if you

are travelling, bear that in mind, tomorrow morning it will be slow to left. tomorrow high—pressure still dominating the weather, breezy in the north—west, this weatherfront just making a bit more of an in road across scotland and northern ireland, taking its cloud and some patchy rain with it, in doing so. the fog that we have in the south will be slow to left, mid morning for some potentially late morning, but then the areas i mentioned will join the rest of england and wales ina sunny join the rest of england and wales in a sunny day, albeit turning hazy as we go through the course of the afternoon. meanwhile our weather front will bring this thicker cloud through parts of scotland and northern ireland. tomorrow we are widely looking at 14 and 15 as maximum temperatures, but we could hit 17 or 18, for example north devon, north wales, especially the north—east, and also north—east england. as we head into the weekend, we have this snow across the southeast mediterranean area, high—pressure still in charge, so the air comes

high—pressure still in charge, so the aircomes in high—pressure still in charge, so the air comes in a clockwise direction around it, so the source of ourairthen direction around it, so the source of our air then comes from north africa, through spain and france, and for the next few days and the ensuing few days be on saturday, that very much depends how quickly we lose any mist and fog that form, and also how much sunshine that we do get as to how high the temperature is going to reach. so on saturday, there will still be a lot of dry weather around, a lot of sunshine, out towards the west with a weather front coming in, sunshine, out towards the west with a weatherfront coming in, thicker cloud and some spots of rain, and then for sunday into next week, high—pressure still in charge of our weather, and although i'm only showing you the capital cities here, this applies across the uk, temperatures might take a slight depending on how much sunshine we do or don't get, and how quickly the mist and fog clears, but still even if we only get 12 or 13 degrees, thatis if we only get 12 or 13 degrees, that is still above average for this stage in february. carol, thank you very much. it is going to be clear around the sheffield area tomorrow, and that is

good, because it is a special day for bbc breakfast. tomorrow we're helping to commemorate a remarkable act of courage and self—sacrifice by american airmen during the second world war — and the actions of the man who kept their memory alive. raf and us air force planes will perform a fly—past above the sheffield park where an american bomber, crashed in 1944, killing all ten men on board. a young boy called tony foulds saw the plane come down. he's spent the last 75 years tending to the memorial in that park. we'll be there tomorrow for the fly—past but first, breakfast'sjohn maguire tells the story of that final journey. on the 22nd of february 1944, the crew of the mi amigo took off for a bombing raid over northern denmark. it was to be their last flight. the aircraft crashed into endcliffe park in sheffield, having deliberately avoided nearby houses. very few of the b17 flying fortresses remain. here at the american air museum, part of the imperial war museum in duxford, you can walk under

the wings of the iconic bomber. and for megan leo, a relative of one of the crew, imagine what flying on board must have been like. he was my age when he would have been in there, and when he died. and just seeing all that, i can't even imagine. there aren't words for it, really. melchor hernandez was the one who gave the mi amigo, "my friend" in spanish, its nickname. hisjob on board as the bombardier would have meant him sitting here at the very nose of the plane. i can't even imagine sitting in that cramped space with nine other men whose lives are so connected to mine. and just remembering the names, i think, and knowing the ten and knowing the mi amigo and having that forever etched in our hearts and in our memories. the aircraft were popular with their crews who lived, flew and fought together,

a band of brothers. you're in there with ten guys who you're flying with all the time, and you'll be living with them, so yes, the camaraderie, and getting through mission after mission after mission, you know, you build up that friendship and that, obviously you look out for each other. and those strong bonds of camaraderie remain among modern day aircrews. this is raf lakenheath, the home of the b15 strike eagle jets that will form the main body of tomorrow's fly—past. these crews will have flown hundreds of missions, both in training and in combat, but this memorial flight over sheffield is something very different, something very special. and one aircraft will leave the formation as it flies over, the symbolic missing man. it is a very rare honour, and it's only bestowed on crews that have passed and for special events like this, and again, when this got brought forward, it's a special way for all of us to honour all those aircrew, both american and in the raf,

that passed over us. this is not only a special way for us to honour the fallen mi amigo aircrew, but also all the aircrew that have passed leading up to those events. we love the opportunity to take the opportunity to another crew of the mi amigo, and the guys that came before us and were able to pave the way for us is a huge honour. 75 years ago, ten young men gave their lives serving their country and ours. the fly—past aircraft will carry their names as they are commemorated by their present—day counterparts, by their families and by thousands of thankful strangers. lest we forget. john maguire, bbc news, at raf lakenheath in suffolk. here's how it's going to work. ten planes will set off from three raf bases before flying over endcliffe park, in sheffield, at around a quarter to nine.

it is all dependent a little bit on the weather and the cloud cover. we'll be there all morning — along with some of the fallen airmen's relatives and with tony foulds, who has done so much over the years to honour their memory. the time now is at 7:48am. last night was the brit awards. calvin harris was a big winner at last night's brits. he bagged two awards, for "best single" and "producer of the year". he isa he is a huge producer, responsible for lots of big hits. the 1975 were also double winners, for "best british group" and "album of the year". our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba's report contains some flashing images. # tell me, do you wanna go? hugh jackman kicked the night off, performing from the greatest showman, the movie soundtrack 2018's biggest selling album. and the winner is... the 1975!

the night's big winners were poprock band, the 1975, taking home best album and best british group, they used their speech to speak out against the prejudice facing women in the industry, quoting journalist laura snapes. the male misogynist acts are examined for nuance and defended as traits of difficult artists. whilst women and those who call them out are treated as hysterics who don't understand art. two awards too for scottish dj and producer calvin harris, best single for one kiss with dua lipa and best producer. best british female went to... jorja smith! thank you so much, this is for all of us, all the little girls and women who are just being themselves and loving everything they are doing.

while best british male was george ezra. this is an incredible honour, thank you very much. there is not, oh, my... there is not a day goes by that i don't consider myself very lucky and this is the icing on the cake, so thank you very much. little mix won best video, which also features nicki minaj. the winners of best international group, the carters, aka beyonce and jay z, who accepted their award in front of a portrait of meghan, duchess of sussex. thank you so much to the brit awards for this incredible honour, you guys have always been so supportive. everything is love. thank you. you're welcome. best international female was ariana grande. i want to say thank you so much

for international female solo artist, this is so cool and i am so grateful. i wish i was there with you guys, i have so much love for the uk and my fans. i wish i were there. and singer pink, received an outstanding contribution to music award, and closed the show with a medley of hits. lizo mzimba, bbc news. hugh jackman, hay? at hughjackman, hay? at the brits? pink, that is who i really like. that says everything about us. heathrow has released its latest results this morning — but it's against a backdrop of turbulence for britain's airports. brexit is on the horizon, airlines are in trouble and there's been drone chaos. ben what's all this meant for them? yes, a pretty tough thing to run an airport anyway, whether it is the

uk's busiest on the world's busiest. good morning. hisjob is even harder being faced with so much uncertainty. many airlines are in difficulty. flybmi the latest to go under. the industry is struggling with fuel costs, green taxes, passenger numbers and, of course, brexit. with 36 days to go until we leave the eu, airports have been keen to reassure passenegers they are ready. however, last month the european tourism association said no—deal could cause chaos he described as "a cross heathrow is banking on its expansion after mps last year signed off on a third runway. they have still been protests and legal challenges to those plans. but a record number of passengers used

heathrow last year, just over 80 million of us passed through the airport, that's 220,000 passengers per day. profits were up nearly a quarter to £267 million. let's speak to the ceo of heathrow airport, john holland k. you reassured us that nothing would change after brexit, that passengers would be fine passing for the airport. as any of that changed ? no, we have been planning for a no deal scenario for the last four or five months, and that is just a prudent thing to do in the uncertain situation we are in at the moment. we still hope that there will be a deal, but in either event, the airport will still be running as normal, planes will still be flying and passengers can book with confidence, and we will have extra people in the terminals. i will be there myself on the morning on the 30th of march just making sure that everything is moving smoothly, and if anyone has any questions, we can deal with them quickly, but passengers can book with confidence.

let's talk about the practical realities. you speak confidently about how you are putting plans in place to make sure things go smoothly, but how can you be sure? no one knows what is going to happen, whether we get a deal or not. injuly happen, whether we get a deal or not. in july you happen, whether we get a deal or not. injuly you said you had put £1 billion aside to make sure things go smoothly. what are you spending it on? the government has done a good job along with the european union of making sure there is a fallback plan in the event of no deal, so that all that all the rights to fly will that gives everyone confidence that they can still keep on and fly. so i think that is a really positive step by the government. but looking further on, we for the next few months, so that gives everyone confidence that they can still keep on and fly. so i think that is a really positive step by the government. but looking further on, we have uk, and that is why we are cracking on with it. we are going to be spending billions of pounds every year investing in this fantastic new

integrated hub airport that will really make sure that britain remains the best connected country in the world. for an airport operate smoothly, you need everything to work in sync, and one of the concerns is whether you will be able to get parts and things that you need to make for being outside the european union, and look to global trading markets as well as the eu, and that is why getting on with the expansion is so vital for the future economic plan of the uk, and that is why we are cracking on with it. we are going to be spending billions of pounds every year investing in this fantastic new integrated hub airport that will really make sure that britain remains the best connected country in the world. for an airport operate smoothly, you need everything to work in sync, and one of the concerns is whether you will be able to get parts and things that you need to make sure your machinery in the event of no deal. what are you stockpiling? we have been planning ahead for that, and you tend to think about the bag of systems and where those come from. the kind of we have realised we needed to stockpile were little swa bs needed to stockpile were little swabs the we use for scanning passengers and bags. the rubber gloves that our security officers need to wear to get them safe while they are searching passengers. so it is those kinds of details that are really important, and we've been planning ahead for that for some time now and making sure we have adequate supplies, and working with all of our supply chain. but it is

not just about that, it's also about making sure that our supply chain, hundreds of companies across the uk, can keep on working with confidence, that they are not being squeezed by this. so we have committed to them that we will keep paying them within 30 days, that we will fund any stockpiling that they need to do, because we will need them, as we expand the that we use for scanning passengers and bags. the rubber gloves that our security officers need to wear to get them safe while they are searching passengers. so it is those kinds of details that are really important, and we've been planning ahead for that for some time now and making sure we have adequate supplies, and working with all of our supply chain. but it is not just about that, it's also about making sure that our supply chain, hundreds of companies across the uk, can keep on working with confidence, that they are not being squeezed by this. so we have committed to them that we will keep paying them within 30 days, that we will fund any stockpiling that they need to do, because we will need them, as we expand to make sure that they can deliver that successfully. so i think it is important that big employers act responsibly now small companies in the uk. stockpiling rubber gloves, it has come to small companies in the uk. stockpiling rubber gloves, it has come sighting at heathrow airport in january. where are you now on those plans? it has the potential to cause huge disruption, as we have seen. we have been investing in anti—drone technology for the last couple of yea rs, technology for the last couple of years, testing technology for the last couple of yea rs, testing every technology for the last couple of years, testing every kind of system thatis years, testing every kind of system that is available on the market and licensed in the uk, and clearly we

can see that there are some situations, particularly with a malicious drone, that we should be prepared for, but as we saw with the drone attack that we had at heathrow backin drone attack that we had at heathrow back in january, we drone attack that we had at heathrow back injanuary, we have got a good plan, and the police and the government did a fantasticjob of acting very quickly to support us, and there have been several arrests of drone operators over the last few weeks. so we have a good plan, and i think the positive thing that comes out of the gatwick incident is that there is now much more investment in there is now much more investment in the technology that will be needed to detect and to defeat malicious drone attacks in particular, and at heathrow we will be at the forefront of that, so we have already increased our investment and we are doing a lot of testing with some of the new technology that is coming in. so our ability to protect passengers, it will improve over the coming months and years, and we will be able to make sure that this is just another annoyance among many others that we have to deal with to keep you travelling smoothly and confidently. john, a lot on your plate right now, good luck with it all. john holland—kaye, the chief executive of heathrow airport.

more from me after eight. thank you, ben. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news, i'm sara orchard. detectives investigating the murder of a 22—year—old man in camden on monday have named the victim as 22—year—old bright akinlele. mr akinlele walked into a hotel in euston street before collapsing from his injuries. four men and seven women were arrested at an address in camden on suspicion of murder. all eleven have been released on bail. there are calls for the government to urgently publish a report into tumble dryers that could pose a fire risk. a whirlpool dryer was the cause of a 2016 tower block fire in shepherds bush. a review into these appliances was orded last may. consumer body which? want the findings released, saying they've got concerns over the company's efforts to fix potentially dangerous machines.

ina in a statement, whirlpool say their modifications have been extensively tested, and they have had no reports of the success failing. in football, arsenal women are out to retain the league cup trophy this weekend when they take on manchester city in the final in sheffield. the gunners beat the same opponents 1—0 when they met in last year 5 final, and the two teams currently lead they'll want to come and, you know, put a stamp on us, and to put that right, and we'll also want to retain the trophy. so it'll be a great game against two of the top teams in this country. let's take a look at the travel situation now. on the tubes we've got a good service on all lines. on the roads there's westbound traffic on the highway building through wapping towards tower hill. in bloomsbury there are northbound delays on southampton row following a collision at russell square. on the m23, the southbound exit slip is down to one lane atj9 at gatwick airport, following a broken down lorry.

in central london, victoria street is closed eastbound from buckingham gate to great smith street for emergency repairs now the weather with lucy martin. the mild weather continues and it looks set to stay into the weekend. bright sunny spells will come through in the afternoon. a fairly cloudy start, the best of the breaks developing into the afternoon. the best of the breaks some brighter or sunny spells. the best of the breaks light winds. the best of the breaks this evening, clear spells to begin with. through the night, low cloud and fog developing. temperatures falling to three celsius. tomorrow, dense mist and fog to start, that could be slow to clear. depending how fast that clears, it will be mild, temperatures similar to today.

a similar story into the weekend. brightening with sunny spells. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. until then, have a very good morning. good morning welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. our headlines today: braced for further defections — three former conservative mps who've quit the party say a significant number of colleagues are also considering walking out. but the chancellor tells breakfast now is not the time to panic. i know this is extremely

uncomfortable for business in particular in four people in general, that we are so close to the wire, but we have to maintain our nerve. the british teenager who joined is in syria says she's shocked by the decision to remove her uk citizenship. it's one of the world's busiest airportsbut the boss of heathrow tells me they're stockpiling parts and setting aside a billion pounds to make sure there's no disruption after brexit. game changer... manchester city stage a fight back in germany.. as raheem sterling scores a late winner to seal a 3—2 win over schalke in the champions league. hugh jackman kicked off the show in style but who were the big winners at this year's brits? we'll find out. it isa it is a fairly mild start for this time of the year and a fairly cloudy one. some patchy rain and showers

and once again temperature is above average. more details in 15 minutes. it's thursday, the 21st february. our top story: in the past hour, the chancellor philip hammond has told breakfast he's very disappointed with the decision of three conservative mps to leave the party, but the door would be open for them to return. in a letter to the prime minister anna soubry, heidi allen and sarah wollaston said the tory party had been taken over by hard brexiteers. they've joined eight mps who resigned from labour to form the independent group, which now has more mps in parliament than the dup and the same number as the liberal democrats. anna soubry criticised theresa may for allowing brexit to "define and shape" the conservative party. the hardline, anti—eu awkward squad that have destroyed every leader for the last 40 years are now running the conservative party from top to toe.

they are the conservative party. let's get the latest from our political correspondent ben wright in westminster. it is interesting, when anna soubry criticises the conservative party for allowing brexit to define it, when you look at the independent group, that is the unified thread almost. that is the glue that brought them together, the opposite to brexit, demanding another referendum. brexit is splintering parties the way we have never seen before in uk politics. for this new group it was important they kept up the momentum by getting three tories over into this group yesterday, swelling their ranks. i thought the blistering attacks that the three of them made what they consider to be state of the conservative party, and what everyone is asking today is either number is going to grow

further? will there be further recruits in the next few days? on the conservative side it will depend on how brexit pans out in the next week or so. there will be a big vote next week and there may be another meaningful vote if they bring back another deal and there will be the possibility of a new deal brexit. the government's response will help a lot to determine whether tories switch sides to these new groups. earlier, cheney pressed philip hammond. the question if! made, was quite straightforward. we know what you are working for and what you wa nt to you are working for and what you want to achieve, but my question is it comes to this issue of unconscionable, are you prepared to stay in the government if we go to no deal scenario? if i am honest, it

is yes or no, you know the answer. ori is yes or no, you know the answer. or i will say to you is i will a lwa ys or i will say to you is i will always do what i believe is in the best interest of the country. is it in the best interest of the country to go into a new deal? no, definitely not. that means you are prepared to leave the government. my job is to make sure that the government gets a solution that does not take us to the new deal precipice. he would find it incredibly hard to stay in the government if britain went towards no—deal brexit and i know of other cabinet ministers who think the same and may well walk and joined us at the party, that is how fluid and for brown it is at the moment. people are frustrated at watching party politics play out and these lines emerging. theresa may is doing what she has been asked to do, to try to

negotiate brexit. true and we are in the end days of brexit and we know the end days of brexit and we know the hard deadline on march the 20 night is when the clock stops, two yea rs night is when the clock stops, two years after we handed in our notice to leave and there is still no deal agreed. if parliament does not agree agreed. if parliament does not agree a deal by then, then there will be no deal. that is why westminster is so charged and nervous at the moment. the stakes are incredibly high. theresa may is trying to wring out some concessions from the eu on the backstop, to try to stop a hard border on the isle of ireland. many brexiteers that anna soubry was attacking so vehemently yesterday have demanded legally binding changes to allow the uk to pull out of it unilaterally. that is what uk ministers and officials are trying to negotiate now with the eu before theresa may has another attempt at getting this deal through

parliament. it may be that she tries next week, but they will go on longer than that, and all the time the clock is ticking. thank you very much for going through all of that. sarah wollaston was one of those conservative mps who resigned — we're talking to her at 8.10. bangladesh has rejected suggestions that shamima begum, who fled to syria from london four years ago tojoin so—called islamic state, is a citizen of their country. the uk is stripping her of her british nationality, but such a move is only possible if an individual is eligible for citizenship elsewhere. it was thought the 19—year—old had bangladeshi citizenship through her mother. kathryn stanczyszyn has more. a disappointed shamima begum at the al—hawl refugee camp in syria. the 19—year—old, who left school to join islamic state, and hasjust given birth, wanted to return to the uk

with her newborn son. instead, she found out the government was taking away her british nationality, something she says is unjust. her baby, who she was carrying under her clothes, will still be british. i thought they would be a bit more sympathetic because of my situation. i did explain that i didn't know fully what i was getting into. and, you know, i made a mistake. and i was hoping that... they would have some sympathy and understanding, but clearly not. four years ago, when shamima begum left britain aged 15, police said she'd been groomed. now she has been told her uk citizenship will be revoked, and she should rely instead on her possible bangladeshi nationality through her mother. but the bangladeshi foreign minister has stated she is not a dual citizen. she's never been to bangladesh, and there was no question of her being allowed into the country. in an interview last night,

home secretary sajid javid said he would not leave any individual stateless. but some say this is what shamima begum is now facing. her appeal is likely to take months to go through the courts. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. some breaking news overnight — a huge fire in a densely—populated area of the bangladesh capital has killed at least 78 people. the flames broke out in an apartment block in dhaka where the ground floor was used to store chemicals. it's thought a gas cylinder may have started the fire, which quickly spread through the floors and to nearby buildings. many other people have been injured and authorities there say the number of fatalities could increase. the fire is now under control. calvin harris was the big winner at last night's brits, picking up two awards for best single and producer of the year. the 1975 were named best band and album of the year. beyonce and jay z collected their award for best

international group, stood in front of a portrait of meghan, the duchess of sussex. an important question for many. have you ever wondered why a zebra has stripes? well, scientists claim to have the answer and they say it's to stop flies from landing on them. that is a horse with a zebra suit on. that is not to be confused with real zebra. there is a real one. there is a real one. the university of bristol did an experiment where they put different cloth coats on horses bearing striped patterns or in plain colours. they found that fewer flies landed on the horse when they were wearing the stripy coats. the researchers now think the stripes dazzle the flies, so they can't land properly.

that is the answer to all of those issues as to why the stripes exist. i was querying the fact that the research was done in somerset and not ina research was done in somerset and not in a hotter country where perhaps flies behave differently. idid not perhaps flies behave differently. i did not know that you are studying the behaviour of flies. someone got in touch and said they live in the country and they put zebra suits on the horses because the horse flies a move. so it is working. there you go, that science and it is 12 minutes past eight. the formation of the new independent group, made up of both labour and conservative politicians, has made waves in westminster in the last few days. but how do the constituents of those who have defected feel? brea kfast‘s tim muffett has been to find out. shepreth in south cambridgeshire. it was mentioned almost 1000 years

ago in the domesday book. there has been a pub on this site since the 17th century. so has local mp heidi allen made an historical blunder or helped shape the future of british politics? when the history books look back hopefully this will be the beginning of people standing up for what they believe in and not letting the brexiteers run the tory party. i think if we are going to make any changes which ever way you want to go, it would probably be better to do that from within. it's very sad what is happening in the government at the moment. everything seems to be very mixed up and nobody seems to know what they are doing really. people here did vote for a conservative mp and have not got now a conservative mp. what do you think of that? it may be that the ideas that people voted for aren't the same anymore. they have changed for her and for the people that voted her in. the south cambridgeshire constituency was created in 1997 and until yesterday has always been conservative. at the teacake tearoom mandy

thornton has a lot to say. if i am honest when i analyse it ifeel a little bit betrayed. why is that? she is supposed to be representing us and i did vote tory, so i'm not sure where that leaves us, i'm not sure where it leaves brexit. the long and short of it is it leaves me feeling a bit lost. anna soubry also became a tory mp in 2010. her constituency is broxtowe in nottinghamshire. i'm not quite sure how i feel about that. i'm quite surprised, i thought she would stick it out. it will be interesting, will there be a by—election? they should all try and unite and just get this for the country, all stick together because it is too late to be divided now. totnes in devon, since 2010 sarah wollaston has held the seat. she is a former gp and now a former tory. i think i would probably vote for her, yes. and i'm not a tory, i'm a lib dem. but good for her.

i think we have seen politics first hand how it really is and i think people will think twice about voting in the future, i know we will. a time of political change and it is notjust mps rethinking the way they will vote. sarah wollaston was one of those who resigned — shejoins us now from her constituency in totnes in south devon. thank you very much forjoining us. iam hoping thank you very much forjoining us. i am hoping you had some of that report, and you heard some people say that they felt betrayed by mps, you and the other two who have left the conservative party, because they feel they voted conservative. how would you respond to that? what i would you respond to that? what i would say is we have not changed, we still want to represent a centrist,

moderate, open point of view and thatis moderate, open point of view and that is what we stood on. u nfortu nately we that is what we stood on. unfortunately we feel the conservative party has left us, it has taken a very significant shift to the right and is having its agenda dictated to by a party within agenda dictated to by a party within a party, the eog and the dup, and is no longer represents the values on which we stood. it was a very sad day for us yesterday and the disastrous handling of brexit and the way the prime minister is marching us towards the cliff edge ofa marching us towards the cliff edge of a new deal brexit which we feel would be disastrous for the communities we represent. would be disastrous for the communities we representlj would be disastrous for the communities we represent. i have heard this from you and anna soubry, that you feel the conservative party has left you. let's be clear, you left the conservative party. we spoke to philip hammond today who says that the conservative party has and always must be a broad church and always must be a broad church and he is looking forward to you and anna soubry and heidi allen coming

back into the conservative party filled. is there any chance of you returning to the party if it sorts itself out to the way you think it should be? with great regret i disagree with him. i think it was a broad church but it has no significantly shifted and what many of us have seen, and the tory central office has not addressed this, there has been a very aggressive social media, very well funded campaign encouraging people who are ukip supporters to join the conservative party and that is changing the party base. i am afraid what will happen when theresa may steps down as it is much more likely we will get a much more right—wing leadership of the party. that shift is happening just as we have seen with the labour party, that both our main parties, and you can see it when you are within and watching it at close hand, you can see how both main parties are shifting to the extremes and it is leaving many

people feeling totally represented by either of our main parties. people feeling totally represented by either of our main partiesm you do not feel you can change it from within, you have left the party and become part of this independent... we have tried hard to do it. now you are part of this independent group, what does the future hold for this independent group? what do you see the future of this group of being? what we are as a group of people is now sitting as independents and if you all share the same values, and that is on the website for the independent group, but it is not yet a political party andi but it is not yet a political party and i do not think a political party should be cooked up in a back room in westminster. we are going to go out around the country and hear what people want from that party and over timei people want from that party and over time i hope it will become a political party, but at the moment it is very early days and we have come together with shared values and

we will be having a lot of conversations and reaching out to other colleagues who share our views but who are at the moment nervous of making that change. it will not become a party in the near future, thatis become a party in the near future, that is a fair extrapolation of what you have just sad. that is a fair extrapolation of what you havejust sad. how that is a fair extrapolation of what you have just sad. how many people are we going to see defect from other parties to the independent group in the next two weeks?” other parties to the independent group in the next two weeks? i think a lot will depend on whetherjeremy corbyn delivers on his promise to get a people's vote when we come to the brexit deal. there is an amendment coming from want of a labourmp amendment coming from want of a labour mp called peter kyle who is saying perfectly reasonably this is the brexit deal warts and all, what we wa nt the brexit deal warts and all, what we want is for the public to have the opportunity to examine that deal. we would help across party lines for the prime minister to get her deal through parliament

conditional on it being subject to the public having the final say so they would have a right to vote as well so they could weigh up the risks and the benefits and look at the evidence and say is that what they really want or do they want to stick with the deal we have? the question is regarding the independent group, i know what you wa nt independent group, i know what you want in brexit. timeline, who else is going tojoin and buy want in brexit. timeline, who else is going to join and buy when and by how many? if jeremy corbyn does not back the amendment and does not come out for a right to vote many labour mps will realise the game is up and they will shift. likewise on my side of the house i think if theresa may does not take no deal off the table i think more of my colleagues will alsojoin us. it is going to be one to watch over the coming week. collea g u es to watch over the coming week. colleagues will have to speak for themselves, i cannot speak for them. over the coming week?” themselves, i cannot speak for them. over the coming week? i think so, over the next couple of weeks we

will probably see more colleagues join anyway. if you look at the labour party, the concerns go far deeper thanjust brexit. labour party, the concerns go far deeper than just brexit. i labour party, the concerns go far deeper thanjust brexit. i really hope that other labour colleagues will come and join us. i know many of them are in discussions. sarah wollaston, independent group mp, thank you very much for talking to us. thank you very much for talking to us. here's carol with a look at this morning's weather. it is itisi it is i have stuck to the date for this time of the year. however, if you are standing outside waiting for a bus it is chilly. if by the end of the day we could have 17 celsius, but it will be mostly cloudy. the source of the warm air is coming from the caribbean and being dragged along across the atlantic as being indicated by the amber across the

uk. first thing this morning we still have patchy rain in north—west england and scotland and parts of the midlands. that will fade leaving drizzle in cumbria for some time. then the cloud will thin on the break and sunny spells will develop but not everywhere. we are not looking at wall—to—wall blue skies. a noticeable breeze in northern ireland and western scotland and temperatures widely in the mid—teens. locally 16 or potentially 17. the north east of scotland is favoured for that. this evening and overnight there will be thick cloud and eventually we will see some rain. at the other end of the country we are looking at patchy fog in central and southern england, the midlands, east anglia and the south—east. this could be problematic, so if you are travelling bear that in mind. it will be slow to clear on friday. on

friday the air moves in a clockwise direction so the source of our milderair direction so the source of our milder air will come from north africa across spain and france and across our shores. patchy mist and fog in the area i mentioned first thing and it may take until mid morning to clear. these areas will join the rest of england and wales with sunny spells, turning hazy through the course of the day. in the west we will have thicker cloud and some rain. tomorrow is a special day because it is the fly—past for the tornadoes. 14 degrees in the afternoon for the fly—past. staying dry with light southerly winds. very nice if you are a spectator. on friday we have high pressure in charge. snow in parts of south—eastern europe, but this mild aircoming ourway south—eastern europe, but this mild air coming our way introducing

temperatures which could again reach 17 degrees. it depends how quickly the fog lifts. a lot of dry weather on saturday and in the west thicker cloud and some rain. the temperatures will be 13—15, possibly a bit more. we are delighted about the weather for the fly cast which we will be covering. pope francis has opened the first global summit this morning to address child abuse reform in the roman catholic church. bishops from around the world have travelled to rome as the church attempts to deal with what the pope calls ‘its most urgent crisis.‘ our reporter james reynolds is at the vatican for us now. i see those blue skies. good morning, james. there will be people thinking this moment could never come, that this kind of sum it would

happen, so that makes it important in itself. it does. but bear in mind this is not the first time that this pope has tried to tackle this issue. a year after he became pope he set up a year after he became pope he set upa a year after he became pope he set up a commission designed to find ways of tackling the clerical sexual abuse crisis. he had two survivors of child abuse on that commission and they resigned in frustration saying not enough was being done. now you have the second attempt with the bishops from across the world coming here, they are praying and reflecting, but survivors are saying thatis reflecting, but survivors are saying that is not enough. reflection will not do. they want to have procedures in place so that if priests are accused of abuse they are found guilty and punished and not hidden by the church. this is an institution based on the idea of faith, faith in god, but it is faith in priests, faith in the vatican which is now in question. what you

are alluding to is possibly the disconnect. they can have a summit, they can say the right things and yet that is part of the problem, isn‘t it? yet that is part of the problem, isn't it? it is the and yet that you have hit on the problem. the survivors say there is no point of having more discussions if those discussions do not end with credible steps and structures to stop this from happening again. they say the church‘s secret structures, priests being shuffled from place to place and the church protecting its own is what led to the crisis and that has to change from their point of view. james reynolds reporting from the vatican. you‘re watching breakfast from bbc news. still to come ? we ll have the weather and sport. and later we ll be talking to the forensic scientist angela gallop ? she s worked on some of the biggest murder investigations of the last few decades and she s now written a book about it.

hello there. for much of this month, we‘ve been talking about above average temperatures, and the mild theme continues over the next few days. though there will be quite a bit of cloud around through the day today, many areas will start to brighten up heading to the afternoon. so we are drawing up this mild air on the south—westerly wind, and if we follow that back the source is the caribbean. it has cooled down a bit though as it worked across the atlantic, but it‘s helping to boost our temperatures. this morning was a little drizzly in some spots. quite a lot of cloud too. this afternoon, it will tend to dry up and brighten up. always a bit more cloud

through southern scotland, east anglia and down towards the south—east, but even here we should get to see bright or sunny intervals. the wind is quite noticeable across northern ireland and western scotland, but otherwise it is fairly light. today is really all about the temperatures. we could hit 17 celsius around the moray firth and it is a similar story for north—east wales. so a fine end to the day. increasing amounts of cloud for northern ireland and western scotland as this weather front starts to make inroads. otherwise, under clear skies we are expecting some mist and fog, particularly through the midlands, down towards east anglia, the south—east and the south of england. most places seeing those temperatures not fall away too far, certainly above freezing. through friday, a ridge of high pressure. this weather front is trying to make inroads but it will tend to fizzle out. that dense fog will take a little while to clear. it should do gradually as we go through the morning. there will be cloud for northern ireland and western scotland, with outbreaks of patchy rain.

some of that may make its way over to north—east scotland through the afternoon. otherwise, it‘s a decent day. lengthy spells of sunshine, but turning a little hazier through the afternoon, and mild.