pinned me against the wall, did the whole, you know, "don't you know who i am, how long have i been here, what do you think you're doing?" and a new play explores the political deals behind britain's abolition of slavery. and i think it is about time that the public really knew what went into the abolition act and what wasn't really delivered. life would be a bit dull after borisjohnson‘s crushing but first, let's be honest — some people thought westminster life would be a bit dull after borisjohnson‘s crushing election victory and mps voting to get brexit done. how wrong they — we — were. it's true we no longer have the knife—edge votes of the may years, or the serial government defeats and ministerial resignations, but there's no shortage of political drama at the moment. the new cabinet met on friday. many of those faces around the table were familiar, some less so. more striking were the absentees, chief among them the former chancellor.

on thursday, sajid javid quit afterjust seven months in the job. he refused to accept borisjohnson‘s terms for staying on — to fire his advisers. several other cabinet ministers also lost theirjobs, including julian smith, only weeks after the northern ireland secretary played a key role in restoring devolution to stormont. questions for the minister from the department for digital media, culture and sport, robert courts. as the drama unfolded, parliamentary life continued as usual. there was culture questions, minus the outgoing culture secretary, lady morgan, who's now a peer. oral questions, attorney general, alex norris. and attorney general questions, without the attorney general. geoffrey cox was among the reshuffle casualties. others were not taking their survival chances for granted. i look forward to working with him and his committee, i hope, in this... ..in this important...

i'll put my phone on speaker on the dispatch box! mps — well, some of them — finally caught up with the news during questions to the leader of the commons. given the events of the day, i suppose we should congratulate the leader of the house for surviving the current cabinet cull that is under way, at least thus far. we should be grateful that our business is led by someone who has proven his indispensability to the prime minister. mr speaker, i am most grateful to the honourable gentleman for his gracious welcome on my continuing presence here. if i am suddenly called away, i am sure my honourable friend will be more than able to take over for the rest of the session. can we have a statement on the surprising news that the chancellor of the exchequer has been sacked? mr speaker, madam deputy speaker, the honourable gentleman is ahead of me on the news cycle. later, a government whip — in a rare speaking role — tried to lower the tension

among his ambitious colleagues. we've had this debate today with a little bit of news going on in the background, in the reshuffle. i am sure that many of my honourable and right honourable friends have been waiting eagerly by their phones for that call. ilike to... i want to make sure that people don't have that impression of me, so i'lljust leave that there. the only thing i can see at the moment is a missed call from my mother. i suspect the call from your mother was asking "has boris rung yet?" sorry, mrs andrew, no, he hasn't. not yet. but fret not, mrs andrew, the call finally came and stuart andrew was promoted to become the new government deputy chief whip. one of the reshuffle changes will see a new full—time minister

for the controversial high—speed hs2 rail link. it's already years late, billions over budget and rather unpopular with more than a few conservative mps. but borisjohnson says it will now go ahead. the prime minister said it had been a difficult decision, but he would draw a line under poor management of the scheme so far. the first phase of the route will travel between london and birmingham, with a second phase going to manchester and leeds. before donning the obligatory hi—vis jacket, the prime minister presented the package to mps as part of a "public transport revolution", with £5 billion promised over five years, to improve bus and cycling services in england. on high—speed rail, he said his generation faced a choice. we can try to get by with the existing routes from north to south. we can consign the next generation to overcrowding, standing up in the carriageways. or we can have the guts

to take a decision. no matter how difficult. unlike the party opposite, by the way, mr speaker. no matter how difficult and how controversial, that will deliver prosperity to every part of the country. so, today, mr speaker, the cabinet has given high—speed rail the green signal. we are going to get this done. and to ensure that we do so without further blow outs on cost or schedule, we are today taking decisive action to restore discipline to the programme. besides hs2, he said railways in the north of england would be improved — part of a wider transport revolution — featuring electric buses, driverless cars and new networks of cycle paths. this government will deliver a new anatomy of british transport. a revolution in this nation's public transport provision and a sign to the world that,

in the 21st century, this united kingdom still has the vision to dream big dreams and the courage to bring those dreams about and i commend this statement to the house. the labour leader supported rail and bus improvements, but questioned whether boris johnson's government could deliver. it is a government that has proved itself unable to manage infrastructure projects properly and incapable of keeping a lid on the costs. today's piecemeal announcements don't add up to a serious plan to rebalance the economy, or to tackle the serious climate emergency that we all face. and he looked at boris johnson's own record. mr speaker, the prime minister is clearly fond of announcing big shiny projects. like the scheme to build a bridge over the irish sea. why not go the whole hog and make it a garden bridge?

connect it to an airport in the sea! it stands as much chance of actually being built as any of those failed projects, by the former mayor of london put forward. the saddest thing, mr speaker, about today's announcement, is the high likelihood that so much of it won't be delivered. hs2 is a dire reflection on this government's environmental credentials, with the destruction of 100 ancient woodlands and a miserably small modal shift ofjust 5% of passengers who would otherwise fly or drive. many conservative mps are unhappy with the plan, but the opposition in the commons was muted. would my right honourable friend agree with me that it is very, very important that, as hs2 is now going ahead, that we also compensate well those people, in my constituency and his, and his, who will be

affected by hs2. mr speaker, the short answer to that is of course. hsz is unloved, unwanted, and has been grossly mismanaged. it very adversely affects my constituents. does the prime minister appreciate my and my constituents' concerns that this could well be an albatross around this government and the country's neck moving forward, and doesn't it set the bar very low for the future delivery of infrastructure projects on—time and on budget by all future governments? mr speaker, every great infrastructure project is opposed by the people at this stage. the m25 had 39 separate planning... the treasury was against the m25, i seem to remember delivering the olympics and the problems with crossrail. every single infrastructure project is opposed at this critical moment. we've got to have the guts and the foresight to drive it through. the prime minister, who says the first hs2 trains could be running within 10 years. now, complaints about bullying and sexual harassment by mps are to be handled differently,

in what's been described as a "seismic shift" for staff. the new system will be completely independent of mps, with an expert panel replacing the committee of mps that currently has the final say on action taken. the plan follows the recommendations of the retired high courtjudge, dame laura cox, whose report on bullying in parliament was published in 2018. i asked dr hannah white of the institute for government, who's a former commons clerk, how the system works at the moment. there is a new system which has been in place for a couple of years now and fundamentally what happens is there is an independent officer, called the parliamentary commissioner for standards. she oversees an investigation of a complaint that is made and she can determine some lower—level sanctions against an mp, if it is something that is not deemed to be very serious, but if there is a more serious complaint, that will go

to the committee on standards, which is a committee made up half of mps and half lay members, and they get to decide what the sanction should be against an mp. so, what is the big difference the new system will make? the new system, which is out for consultation, would find that you have an independent panel of experts and the most serious complaints, the most serious allegations, where the commissioner does an investigation and says, i think there would be as a serious sanction for this, so either suspension of an mp from the house, or possibly their expulsion from the house, then that would go to that expert committee and that committee would be completely independent. it wouldn't involve any mps, and there is a question about whether it might involve a former mp, but it would be distinct, so that people could have confidence that mps weren't involved. everybody says this is long overdue. why hasn't it been done before? i think it has been very slow, since the sort of me too scandal, the bullying scandal first hit westminster. a number of different

inquiries took place, there have been three big inquiries that have all found problems. the first one to report, more than 15 months ago, recommended something like this, recommended we needed an independent process for investigating complaints and sanctioning mps. and it's has been slow, partly, the he house of commons is slow about some of these things sometimes, but also there have been vested interests involved, who it hasn't been in their interests to move much faster. does the fact that the speaker has changed, does that make a difference? has changed, does that i think it has certainly made has changed, does that a difference to the atmosphere around this question in westminster. it was fundamentally really difficult, while john bercow was speaker of the house of commons and there are these outstanding allegations of bullying against him, which haven't been investigated, because the committee for standards — which i mentioned — had decided the complains were too old so they shouldn't be investigated and i think

that was really problematic, because it meant he couldn't defend himself against these allegations, which he denies. and he does deny them, yes. and the people making these allegations couldn't see them investigated and that really undermined everyone‘s confidence that this system was really being the change that needed to happen. you were a commons clerk for a long time. did you experience this bullying culture? i certainly experienced instances of inappropriate workplace behaviour. i once had a situation when i was a very new clerk, i was clerking a committee. i gave advice to the chair that a member should bring his remarks to a close, because they were irrelevant. that member then found me in a remote corridor in the house of commons later that day, shouted at me, basically pinned me against the wall, did the whole, "don't you know who i am? how long have i been here? what do you think you are doing?" and i was really shaken by that. i was lucky i was never, sort of, subject to any campaign of bullying, like some of my colleagues were, but i certainly saw inappropriate behaviour. and if something like that happened in the future, are you more confident that somebody in your position would have been able to deal

with it, to get it sorted? i think there are two things. yes, i think people will feel more confident that they could take a complaint like that and have it taken seriously, but also, there are definite efforts being made now to track these complaints being made. so, if something looks like a pattern of behaviour, then the parliamentary commissioner can take account of that when she is looking into and investigating bullying complaints. hannah white. emergency legislation, designed to end the release of people convicted of terrorism offences halfway through their sentence, has been backed by mps. the new law was drawn up after the knife attack at streatham in south london, earlier this month. the perpetrator, sudesh amman, had been freed from prison just 10 days earlier. the measures will apply in england, scotland and wales. the justice secretary explained how terrorist prisoners would be affected. there are two main elements to this. first, to standardise the earliest point at which they may be considered for released at two thirds of the sentence imposed. and secondly, to require that the parole board assess

whether they are safe to release, between that point and the end of their sentence. this will apply to all terrorists and terrorist related offences, where the maximum penalty is above two years. including those offences for which sudesh amman was sentenced. the issue of rehabilitation — the work that is done both in prison and when they are out of prison — is so important. there has been many efforts of this over the years, but as recent incidents have seen, that has not always been with success. does my right honourable friend agree that, actually, we will never deal with this issue of terrorism, until we deal with the ideology that drives it? and will he reassure me that the government is taking extra efforts to find new paths to ensure that we can turn people away from the extremism and the terrorism that takes other people's lives? there is a constant, if you like, a self questioning amongst those responsible for these particular programmes, to make sure

they are properly calibrated. that they understand the particular drivers that mean people are compelled to commit these acts. labour supported the measure, in principle. i do think the house today is entitled to ask the question as to why we have ended up requiring this law to be made via emergency legislation. automatic early release is hardly new. it's been part of our system for many years and could have already been dealt with, by a government that took a more strategic approach. the snp had a warning. because i'm always conscious of the analogy of wasps in the jar. if you shake them all about and then you let them out, then you're going to get stung. and the bill now goes to the lords, when parliament returns from its half term break the week after next. ministers hope it will become law by the end of the month. time now for a look at what else has been happening around westminster. and the health secretary,

matt hancock, has issued new powers in england to keep people in quarantine, to stop the coronavirus spreading. the department of health has described the virus as a "serious and imminent threat" to public health. i've laid an instrument before the house to confirm the power we've taken to isolate those at risk of spreading the virus. and, if necessary, to keep them isolated as part of our belts and braces approach to protecting the public. the powers are proportionate and will help us slow down transmission of the virus and make it easier for nhs and public health staff to do theirjobs. a gp practice in brighton was temporarily closed, after a staff member tested positive for coronavirus. people want and need more timely and accurate information, not just about washing hands and tissue use, vital though that is, but about things like what does self isolation actually look like?

i think we need a much higher profile public health campaign. helen mccourt‘s killing, 32 years ago, is to lead to a new law making it harder for murderers to be released from prison if they refuse to reveal the whereabouts of their victim's body. helen's killer, ian simms, has been released, despite never revealing where he hid the remains of the 22—year—old. the legislation — the prisoners disclosure of information about victims bill — is known as helen's law. it follows a long campaign from her mother, marie. her mp paid tribute. i want to acknowledge her because it might seem a strange thing to say, madam deputy speaker, when we are discussing what i suspect many would view as a technical bill, but the genesis of us being here today and to debate it at second reading is in love. it is in love of marie mccourt, for her daughter, helen. i am so proud and pleased to see her and her husband john and their close family friend, fiona who has done so much on the campaign here,

to see this come to fruition today. the home secretary, priti patel, apologised to yvette cooper after a conservative activist was jailed for sending threatening messages to the senior labour mp, who shared details of them in the commons. "i'm already organising her to be hurt. amazing what crackheads will do for £100. i'm going to get her beat up." the chair of the local association has today written to me, expressing regrets and apologies for what he describes as the grave and unacceptable actions of their member, who has since been expelled. and i welcome that letter and that support. but it is a concern to me that there has been, thus far, no similar condemnation or sense of regret expressed by the national party. let me say this right now before the house, that is categorically unacceptable and wrong. there is no place for intimidation, at all, in public life. in terms of the national

party public response, she can take it from me right now, that i am hugely apologetic for what she has had to put up with. the former commons speaker, john bercow, has said there is a "conspiracy" to keep him out of the house of lords. he named no names, but said it was "blindingly obvious" that there was a "concerted campaign" to prevent him from being given a peerage. it means he'll miss out on a rise in their lordships' daily allowance. the new daily allowance, for the unelected and unaccountable peers being stuffed into the house of lords by the prime minister, is set to rise to £323. the monthly allowance for a single person over 25 on universal credit is £317.82. is that the levelling up the prime minister keeps talking about? actually, i hate agreeing with these people. i do find, i do find, i do find that it is odd that house

of lords has chosen to do that, but it is a decision for them. borisjohnson and the snp finding something to agree on there. let's look back now at some stories from the wider world of politics. gary connor has our countdown. at5... he's out. sajid javid resigns, becoming the first chancellor for 50 years never to deliver a budget. the last one was iain mcleod in ted heath's government. although his excuse was that he died, only a month into thejob. at 4. how does the prime minister's top adviser, dominic cummings, answer a difficult question? the night time is the right time to fight crime. i can't think of a rhyme. with the lyrics from children's tv show, pj masks. at 3. with the lyrics from children's tv show, pj masks. at 3. good news in northern ireland, with the first same—sex marriage taking place, this week. more than five years after it became

legal in england and wales. at 2, going up, the price forfixing big ben. now coming in at almost £80 million. after repairs turned out to be more tricky than they originally thought. and, at1. want to get rid rid of furry little visitors? the earl of hulme has a...culinary solution to pest control. the earl of home has a...culinary solution to pest control. it might also be helpful if people knew that grey squirrels are extremely good to eat. gary connor. now, in 1833, parliament passed an act to abolish slavery in britain's colonies. a new play for the royal shakespeare company, based on research in the parliamentary archives, depicts the political deals behind a measure which proved to have a long—term cost. gabrielle o'neill reports. the factory bill is the culmination of my political career to date. isn't that what we were fighting for?

how can we just abandon... this directive is from the prime minister, himself. and he expects the general public to give its money away to overfed west india planters, in order to end slavery? an embarrassment to empire, don't you agree? that's far from the point! i've always wanted to write about slavery and i like to find stories that fall between the cracks of history. those stories that need to be uncovered and i think are often buried for political expediency. juliet gilkes romero's play, the whip, is partly inspired by a swiftly—deleted tweet from 2018, revealing the scale of compensation paid to slave owners. it was 40% of the national budget at the time. 20 million at the time, which about now is about 20 billion. it's a lot of money and they could have bankrupted the country, but they essentially mortgaged the future of generations to come,

in order to pay this off. this is why the government needs a man of the people, like you! no. sir, no. the whip is both the chief whip, tasked with getting the abolition bill through parliament, and the brutality of slavery. when i was five, i was sold to a mr beaumont. he put me to work cutting sugar cane, day and night. he was a man who worshipped profit and enjoyed the use of his... whip. the character of mercy price is based on a runaway slave and abolitionist campaigner, mary prince. what she did is she used the fact that she was a slave to tell her story and that's why she wrote her autobiography and also, i'm sure, carried the burdens and scars and i'm sure she used those, as well. often overlooked, the role of women in the anti—slavery campaigns. and the clause in the abolition act, forcing freed slaves to work as unpaid apprentices

to theirformer masters. that was like slavery through another name, quite frankly. and i write about that. and again, i didn't learn about this at school. it's not in any school textbook i've ever seen and i think it's about time that the public really knew what went into the abolition act and what wasn't really delivered. made god be with you! i have the lord to thank for my life! left my master, i would be quite dead. left to my master, i would be quite dead. debbie korley. and the whip is at the swan theatre in stratford—upon—avon until the 21st of march. well worth the trip for mps and peers during their half—term break. that's it for the week in parliament. thank you for watching. from me, david cornock, bye for now.

hello there. the heavier and persistent rain we saw from storm dennis is pushing away towards the south—east and actually here until that afternoon that we have this amber rain warning from the met office affecting the downs. we have already had scenes of flooding affected parts of the country, this one of them in worcestershire, we have four severe flood warnings, two in south wales, as a result of 150 millimetres following in a day or two. that is the radar picture for the last few hours, showing the persistent rain, across england and wales, you can see it is moving fairly quickly away to the south—east where it will stay wet

for the rest of the afternoon. fans of heavy showers following. the wind less of a concern across england and wales, not as much of a concern here but cooler air behind that band of rain together with showers, temperatures continuing to drop away. if we focus on the showers and head north toward scotland, here that centre of storm dennis is getting closer to northern scotland overnight so we may find a bit of a squeeze of the winds your strengthening. windy elsewhere overnight. cooler than it has been of late for england and wales. tomorrow looks like a day of sunshine in blustery showers, some heavy downpours pushing quickly eastward through the morning across southern parts of england and wales. fairly frequent showers continuing into scotland and northern ireland. over the highest scotland, the temperatures are quite decent for the time of year, around nine or 10 degrees. it will be a windy day, not as windy. at low pressure marks what is left of storm dennis, fading away in norway and then this broad run of

westerly wind bringing in sunshine, showers once again, may well start by for many eastern parts of england but there will be bands of showers coming from the west. continuing showers into scotland and northern ireland tanning wintry inhales as the air gets ireland tanning wintry inhales as the airgetsa ireland tanning wintry inhales as the air gets a bit colder. what's showers. turns a touch earlier than the next weather system and area of low pressure racing in from the atla ntic low pressure racing in from the atlantic it may turn dry on wednesday, sunshine to begin with, eastern areas, photo tend to increase, heavier to get over some of these western hills, u nfortu nately, of these western hills, unfortunately, where temperatures will be as high as eight or 9 degrees. no sign of the weather settling down over the weekend. not good news for those areas in the flooding situation at the moment, there will be more wet and windy weather over the next few days.

this is bbc news, i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 3: south wales police declare flooding caused by storm dennis a major incident. a man has been found dead after falling into a river in south wales. heavy rain and strong winds continue to lash large parts of the uk. as you can see behind, the emergency services are doing an incredible job trying to get people out of their homes, homes that have been ruined by water gushing through, destroying all their possessions. hundreds of flood alerts are in place across the uk including a number of red warnings, meaning there's a danger to life. after love island presenter caroline flack took her own life, her successor on the programme, laura whitmore made an emotional tribute on her radio show. at age 40, caroline flack made the decision to take her own life