and england keeping temperatures down. away from the east highs of 13. that is your latest this is bbc news i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 3pm... ministers have been publicly backing theresa may, amid reports of a cabinet coup to oust her. david lidington — who's in effect the deputy prime minister — has rejected claims he's being lined up to replace mrs may. i have no wish to take over from the prime minister who is doing a fantasticjob. there is one thing working closely with the prime minister does, it cures you completely of any lingering shred of ambition to want to do that task. this is the scene at chequers, where the prime minister is meeting colleagues — including high—profile brexiteers — as she tries to find a way to get her brexit deal through the commons. rescuers have been airlifting hundreds of passengers and crew from a cruise ship, off the coast of norway.

mozambican authorities say half a million people are affected by cyclone idai — the raf is flying out aid supplies today. it was the daring wartime prison break—out that inspired a hit hollywood film — and today marks the 75th anniversary of the great escape. and coming up, the best of this week's victoria derbyshire programme — including a moving interview with this group of mothers — who have each lost a son to knife crime. that's in half an hour, here on bbc news. good afternoon, members of the government have been publicly expressing support for the prime minister and to denying reports she

could be removed from office by members of the cabinet. david liddington, the de facto deputy prime minister to theresa may has said he is 100% behind her and has denied suggestions he could take place. mrs may is meeting senior collea g u es place. mrs may is meeting senior colleagues this afternoon at her country home, chequers, to discuss the crisis, and it follows an admission in a letter to mps on friday that she may not have enough support to put her deal before them for a third time. what is theresa may thinking this morning? perhaps just days left to save her brexit plan, furious speculation about her future. are you prepared to resign to save your deal? no signs she intends to go just yet but some have suggested that could be the solution. mrs may goes and someone else takes over in the short term to help end the logjam in parliament. some are tipping this man, david lidington, as a caretaker. a short—term prime minister to get britain through its current brexit crisis. but he says he has no intention of doing it.

i have no wish to take over from the prime minister who is doing a fantasticjob. there is one thing working closely with the prime minister does, it cures you completely of any lingering shred of any lingering shred of ambition. in this volatile time the next few days are far from clear. ministers are urging for calm. no, it is not time to change the captain of the ship, we need to chart the right course and the prime—minister has. she has made sure we have a deal which honours the referendum mandate and allows us to leave in a way that means we can strengthen our economy and take advantage of life outside the european union. this former tory leader said any minister suggesting theresa may goes now should be sacked. but what about in a few weeks‘ time? this breaks into a second phase,

assuming the withdrawal agreement got through, if it did get through the second phase needs to be tackled separately and differently. by somebody else? that is a possibility but it's not something i am saying i recommend right here and right now. there are still huge decisions to be made here, it's not clear whether the prime minister's deal will be put to mps again and they are set to vote on alternative plans on wednesday. the brexit secretary says any decision will not be binding and warns if parliament backs a strategy the government will not implement it could mean a general election. ultimately at its logical conclusion the risk of a general election increases because you have a situation where parliament is instructing the executive to do something that is counter than what it was elected to do. the prime minister is currently at her country retreat, she has invited some cabinet colleagues and senior brexit supporters for talks. her deal and perhaps her future hanging in the balance. we are hanging over chequers, the pro—minister's country home to see if we can spot any of those foreign

ministers who are tripping out their this afternoon. you can see the number of vehicles, which have turned up for what looks like being an afternoon meeting. it could go on for some time. senior critics of her brexit strategy, including boris johnson, the foreign secretary, david davis, dominic rab, former brexit secretaries, iain duncan smith, former pro—minister, and jacob rees mogg, who is the leader of the european research group, who has been vociferous in criticising the premise to's strategy from a pro—brexit point of view. david green is also there who did the david liddington drop before he was forced to resign over a controversy with a women journalist who behaved about his behaviour, but he is still regarded as one of theresa may was my closest friends in westminster and there is another car driving up. we might be lucky to work out who is

coming out from this distance but it is not a bad view, not one you would get very often of the prime minister's country residence. it raises the question of whether reports turn out to be correct that she is under pressure to depart or quit in the coming days, and the question is always asked, where is the queen at the time because she would need to ask the queen. she is not regarded as the resigning type, she did not resign after failing to in the 2017 election outright, having taken in the 2017 election outright, having ta ken her in the 2017 election outright, having taken her party from majority to minority status. she has faced huge criticisms, resignations from prominent figures like boris johnson and david davis over her chequers plan last summer and of course we we re plan last summer and of course we were here in july plan last summer and of course we were here injuly when she thought she had an approach that would see her through brexit but unfortunately that was not to be the case. goodness me, doesn't six months see

mea goodness me, doesn't six months see me a long time in politics. with me is our political correspondent, nick eardley. six months feels like a lifetime in terms of events that have happened. and yet we're still not at a resolution of this brexit situation. we are still not out of the eu and still not 100% certain when we will be and on what terms, if any? that's absolutely right and the other uncertainty is whether the prime minister will even bother putting this deal back to mps because as things stand, as cabinet ministers are acknowledging today, it looks highly unlikely she would get that deal through, i suspect that meeting at chequers, due to start now, will involve some discussion of whether those brexiteers who have not backed the plan could potentially somehow, some way that we have not found out so

some way that we have not found out so far, be won over and as things stand, they haven't, nor have the dup nor have the number of labour mps the government would need to for it to happen. we are not sure whether that will be put back to mps in coming days. what looks likely is that tomorrow, mps will try to seize control of the process and put aside wednesday afternoon for these so—called indicative votes, which allow m ps so—called indicative votes, which allow mps to vote on a number of different alternatives to the government's brexit strategy, things like the norway model, a more distant relationship, so—called canada, no—deal, a panoply of things that six months ago nobody knew what they wear and now we talk about them every day. there are probably some people who still do not know what they are because they are arcane concepts. but it looks like that will happen. what is not clear,

again, is that any of those individual ideas can command a majority in the house of commons. five days before we were meant to leave, still a great deal of confusion. you mentioned indicative votes a nd confusion. you mentioned indicative votes and the commons taking control of the timetable at westminster, wrestling it away from the government. the current brexit secretary, stephen barclay, said on the andrew marr show this morning that ultimately it is a logical conclusion the risk of a general election increases because you potentially have a situation where parliament is instructing the executive to do something that is counter to what it was elected to do. it is a threat, really, isn't it? if you do not get the deal through and start to try to direct what the government is doing, we might prefer to call a general election. is that a credible possibility? i think it is. stephen barclay was saying this morning that

the government won't necessarily accept whatever parliament decides, if it decides on anything, next week, it won't necessarily abide by any indicative votes, he says the government was elected to do something and has a strategy and says there are certain things the european union just will not accept, so european union just will not accept, so if parliament were to do that and the government cannot get it through, it should not have its hands bound by that idea but as you say the big threat that looms over all of that for stephen barclay this morning is that if parliament tries to do something and the government thinks it is impossible, there might bea thinks it is impossible, there might be a general election. something to look forward to. thank you. let's turn to a story that has a happier ending than it looked like it might last night. hundreds of people have been winched to safety from a stranded cruise ship,

after it lost all power in a storm off the coast of norway. two hundred british people were among those on board — many of them elderly. 20 people are being treated in hospital. the viking sky is now being towed to safety — along with hundreds of passengers who remain on the ship. and this is the scene live on the norwegian coast — the ship concerned is the viking sky and it has been towed to safety. the good news is that some of the engines have restarted. she is a pretty impressive vessel, 745 foot, built in 2017 and due to dock in, forgive my pronunciation, molde, on the west coast of norway, they were due to be back in tilbury docks but u nfortu nately due to be back in tilbury docks but unfortunately it is likely that because of events, they will have to make alternative routes back to the uk. you can see some people waving as the helicopter goes past them.

not sure if this is a helicopter, it could be a land—based camera. looks like a beautiful afternoon and one of the passengers told us it has been lovely and she was glad she had stayed afloat. caroline davies reports. falling parts of the ceiling, sliding tables and chairs and plants. passengers struggled to catch their balance as the storm surges around the ship. after the viking sky suffered engine failure yesterday afternoon the liner began to roll. water all over the ground. this is said to be footage inside the ship showing passengers filming water rushing past their feet. seo like this is the captain speaking, with an update again... while others queue to be evacuated wearing orange life jackets.

five helicopters were sent to winch those on board to safety, over 400 people taken to shore. among them george and his wife. one of the most frightening moments i've had because the waves, we could not quite work out where the ship was going. the wind was terrible and it was freezing cold. viking cruises have said 20 people were injured, some taken to hospital. the company said arrangements had been made to fly passengers home with some leaving today. meaning 900 people remain on board including chris. i am keen to stay on the boat, i worked out that as long as the boat was stable and under power we were safe. the idea of going, being hoisted up to a helicopter in those winds, i did not like that idea at all. as the storm begins to calm, the liner has been able to restart three of its four engines and has begun its journey to the nearest port.

voters in thailand are waiting to discover who's won the first election since the military took power in a coup five years ago. turnout has been high — 80 per cent — with seven million more young thais eligible to cast ballots for the first time. a new constitution drafted by the military is expected to keep the army in charge, whatever the outcome. let's speak to our correspondent in bangkok. this has seen an important election. i think for many thai people, this is theirfirst election. i think for many thai people, this is their first chance to vote since the military coup five yea rs to vote since the military coup five years ago, some first—time voters are 26 years old, they haven't been able to take part in elections. having said that, everybody knew the system was weighted in this election, some would say rigged, heavily in favour of the coup leader

himself, the man who has given himself, the man who has given himself enormous advantages in keeping his prime ministerjohn because he has an appointed senate that enjoys one third of the seats in parliament. but for all of the enthusiastic participation, the results have been surprising, the campaign did not seem to excite much popular interest but the party has the largest share of the votes, not seats but in particular they have done very well compared to the main opposition party whose headquarters is behind me, the party backed by the former prime minister, david —— shinawatra. we should see if there

are no more complaints and these results are official, a fairly smooth transition from this government to a newer version of this government, with the same former army commander as prime minister for the next five years. thank you. we will have to wait until tomorrow for those updates on the results which are expected from the results which are expected from the thai general election. the headlines on bbc news... ministers have been publicly backing theresa may, amid reports of a cabinet coup to oust her. rescuers have been airlifting hundreds of passengers and crew from a cruise ship, off the coast of norway. mozambican authorities say half a million people are affected by cyclone idai — the raf is flying out aid supplies today.

wales are playing a qualifying game for euro 2020 and they are 1—0 up against slovakia. a goal after five minutes, and wales are still 1—0 ahead at the start of the second half. arsenal had a 5—1win over liverpool. and the former australian vice captain david warner scored 85 as he returned to the indian premier league that his hyderabad side lost against calcutta. back with more in one hour. let's return now to our top story this morning and speculation that cabinet members had tried to encourage her to stand down soon, in order to win more support from mps for her brexit deal. earlier i spoke to the conservative mp, steve double who told

me the prime minster is in a very difficult position. i think we are in a difficult position, clearly the deal has been resoundingly defeated on two occasions and people like myself who voted against it first time but for it the second time purely to try to prevent what has since unfolded from happening are very much still in the balance, as to whether we would support it a third time or not. we are still unclear whether this would have the support of parliament. do you feel confident in prime theresa may's leadership? my views have been well known since the no—confidence vote in december, ifelt we had an opportunity then to have different leadership but that didn't happen. we are now in a situation where the

pro—minister regrettably cannot maintain collective responsibility with the cabinet, where she has promised over 100 times that we would be leaving the eu on the 29th of march and it looks like that promise will not be kept. and in fa ct, promise will not be kept. and in fact, just ten days ago, she brought a motion to parliament where almost two thirds of their own mps voted against it, so she is clearly in a very difficult position. whether now is the time to change the leader, i think is open to question, we are at such a crucial point in proceedings and i'm not sure thatjust changing the leader would actually help anything at this point. in essence, there is no plan b, is because we can see, from downing street, at this stage, and therefore the possibility that, assuming the brexit deal does not get through, that the uk will leave the eu in mid april without a deal. does that bother your constituents?”

april without a deal. does that bother your constituents? i think the majority of my constituents would be delighted for us to leave the european union and get this over and done with. if that were to transpire, that by the second week of april we were out, i think many people that voted to leave would absolutely be happy. i think it is doubtful whether parliament, that reg retta bly doubtful whether parliament, that regrettably is dominated by people who want to remain, would allow that to happen, as you have highlighted, there is a chance this will be taken out of the hands of the government in the next few days but if the outcome, i think many of us would get behind the prime minister. the one opportunity she has is to say that if a deal is voted down, we will go ahead and leave on the 12th of april with no—deal. a murder investigation is under way after a shop worker was stabbed to death during a robbery at a newsagent‘s in north—west london.

the man is believed to have been attacked as he opened marsh food and wine in pinner on sunday morning. scotland yard said the shop's till was stolen and may have been discarded by the suspect, while detectives are appealing for witnesses who saw a black vauxhall astra driven away at speed immediately after the stabbing. a 19—year—old man's been charged with murdering a woman who was hit by a car at a caravan park near doncaster. the 52—year—old died from multiple injuries at whitegates caravan park on friday. costica mihai will appear at doncaster magistrates tomorrow. the main findings of the inquiry into alleged interference in the 2016 us presidential election are expected to be published later today. the special counsel, robert mueller, has not recommended any further indictments, but the attorney general — who was handed his report on friday — is yet to decide how much of it will be made public. barbra streisand has apologised for comments she made about allegations that michaeljackson sexually abused boys.

the singer told a newspaper that she believed the allegations against the late superstar but said his actions "didn't kill" the accusers. ms streisand said she was profoundly sorry for any pain she'd caused with words which "did not reflect her true feelings." the raf is to fly aid supplies to southern africa — to help people affected by the cyclone that's caused flooding and devastation across parts of mozambique, zimbabwe and malawi. almost two million people are in need of assistance. at least 700 people are known to have died — with many rural communities still to receive any help. the aid flights will provide basic shelters and water purification kits. it was the daring wartime prison break—out that inspired a hit hollywood film — and today marks the 75th anniversary of the great escape. the plan had been for around 200 prisoners of war to escape

from the german camp through a network of tunnels but, although 76 escaped — most were recaptured with the majority of those caught being shot, on hitler's orders. just three made it home. robert hall is there at the site of the camp at zagan in western poland. 0n the edge of zagan forest, british airmen prepare to make a dash forfreedom. they're echoing a story that unfolded here during a snowy night when 200 prisoners of war queued up for what they hoped would be the largest ever mass escape. a story brought to us by some of hollywood's biggest stars. working in secret, teams of prisoners had spent months tunnelling through the sandy soil, whilst others prepared civilian clothes and forged identity papers.

thanks to the efforts of local polish volunteers, it's still possible to get a taste of what the real—life escapers went through. this reconstruction may not contain the hazards of the great escape tunnel but it does give me a real sense of the claustrophobia and the effort that must have been needed to haul those men 100 metres to the tunnel exit. when you get to the bottom of the shaft, you will be put on or get onto a trolley and you will be hauled up to the other end. you also know that there are people going out, steadily or not so steadily, according to what the goons are doing on the other side of the wire. but the tunnel, codenamed "harry", hadn't reached the tree line. just 76 of the 200 got out before the alarm was sounded.

sunrise the next day brought a massive search. 73 men were eventually re—captured. 0n hitler's orders, 50 of them were murdered by the gestapo. marshall, nelson, churchill, cameron, armstrong and shand. and all these other names? these are the people who were taken away and murdered. they were taken away in groups of three or four and were executed by the side of a road. after the war, members of the raf police, whose successors willjoin today's commemorations, tracked down 38 of the killers. most of them were tried and sentenced to death. the man in charge at the time, he went through the old fashioned door—to—door inquiries. he chased down every lead, no matter how trivial, and i think that dogged determination

was the driving factor. nature is slowly reclaiming what's left of stalag luft 3 and the last escaper has left us, but their story is still being told, under the tall pines of zagan. there is a live broadcast of the film to mark the 75th anniversary. 200 britons were among the people on board the norwegian ship yesterday, hundreds of passengers were winched to safety by helicopter. earlier i spoke to lara kiltie who was onboard the ship waiting to be rescued.

she described her experience. the night before, it was quite rough, so we were rolling around a lot in the night. but we didn't realise anything was wrong, to be honest, the staff were great and checking everyone was ok, my husband and i were watching a film when itjust stopped. we thought it was a power cut, and thought, that's a shame, but then they sound the emergency sirens and people in the theatre looked at each other and went, ok, but we were already in our muster station because itjust so happened it was coincidence that most people in the theatre, that was their emergency station so we just stayed put and then staff came to us and there were announcements quickly from the captain who kept us fully informed all the way through.

the next thing was they handed out life jackets and they told us people would be evacuated. which got a little bit — scary isn't the right word, because everybody kept it, everyone was very calm and the captain kept reassuring us and saying, just listen to the crew and they will tell you what to do. we are safe, we are not in any, what is the word? we are not in any danger, really. yes, it was still rolling on the seas that they dropped anchor so quickly so we did not drift anywhere. and he made sure that two large tug boats came out to us because two smaller ones

came at the beginning and they were not strong enough. it is a large ship. it holds 960 passengers when is full. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. it has been a glorious day for much of england and wales with lots of sunshine. further north, shower clouds, moving in across northern ireland, scotland and heading into northern england, north wales as well. if you shower surround across northern and western isles area is. patchy cloud will prevent frost. further east, with clear skies, temperatures will fall. in the

countryside, cold enough for patches of frost. a chilly start on monday. high pressure in charge. a warm front working in across the north. after a chilly start with plenty sunshine, the weather will cloud over from the north and west. chilly winds affecting the east coast of scotla nd winds affecting the east coast of scotland and england. further inland, highs of 13. hello this is bbc news with shaun ley. the headlines: senior conservatives arrive at chequers for crunch talks on brexit following reports of a cabinet coup to oust theresa may. david lidington — who's in effect the deputy prime minister — has rejected claims he's being lined up to replace mrs may. i have no wish to take over from the prime minister who is doing a fantasticjob.