good afternoon. one of the most senior civil servants in government, sir philip rutnam, has told the bbc he has resigned from his post as permanent secretary at the home office. he says he intends to pursue a claim against the government for constructive dismissal after what he called a "vicious and orchestrated" campaign against him. his decision follows days of reports about tensions between him and the home secretary, priti patel. i have received allegations

that her conduct has included shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands. behaviour that created fear and needed some bravery to call out. i know that resigning in this way will have very serious implications for me personally. the cabinet office offered me a financial settlement that kick would have avoided this outcome. i am also aware that there will continue to be briefing against me now i have made this decision. but i am hopeful that at least it may not now be directed towards my colleagues or the department. our political editor laura kuenssberg is here. laura, you were there as sir philip made that extraordinary statement. it was, and this is massively unusual. permanent secretaries are the backroom bosses of government,

they are those who make things happen and whoever is in charge of the politics, and they work very closely with their ministers and here, there has obviously been a total breakdown in trust between sir philip redknapp and priti patel, the home secretary and he clearly felt he had absolutely no choice but to do this —— between sir philip. he said serious allegations had been put to him by staff about how she had behaved but the home office has a was denied that, that there is anything wrong and she has been no pa rt anything wrong and she has been no part of any briefing that they haven't yet added to anything in detail in response to sir philip's statement today. i think more broadly, what is trickier for the government is he said this is part ofa government is he said this is part of a wider pattern of what is going on in government. we know this is a government in a hurry, they want to change things and are perfectly relaxed about rattling a few cages, but rattling a few cages is one thing, ending up in the situation is quite another and you may be wondering, why does this matter, so what? it matters because civil serva nts what? it matters because civil servants are vital to any government

getting anything done and however they lack a delete unhappy they might make people internally, to have a public explosion like this is quite unprecedented and, of course, if he goes ahead with this court case, all of this will come out in open court and that could get very tricky the home secretary indeed. laura kuenssberg, thank you. public health officials are trying to establish how a man from surrey become the first person to contract coronavirus within the uk. the patient — who is the 20th confirmed case in the uk — is being treated at a specialist nhs infection centre in london. helena wilkinson reports. this is what health officials were potentially worried about, the first transmission of the virus within the uk. we know the man went into this health centre in surrey after feeling unwell to see a doctor. he tested positive for the virus. the surgery has now reopened after being deep cleaned. i think they're doing what they can, really. i mean, obviously, it was a bit unusual to think that haslemere could be the first place it's been transmitted

without an obvious cause. my husband has got a poor immune system and respiratory problems. so perhaps i'm a bit more concerned than others might be, butjust be sensible. today, efforts have been made to try and find out who infected the man from surrey and, also, has that person infected others? so far, 20 people have now tested positive in the uk. any responsible government, and this is a responsible government that plans for all eventualities does that, consider all eventualities and have contingency planning for them. but we are very, very clear. at the moment, we are entirely focused on making containment work, as it has done, and that is the clinical advice we are taking from the chief medical officer and his team. abroad in tenerife, at the coronavirus—hit hotel, more tourists have been able to leave. after days of being stuck, british guests got this letter from the foreign office. it says plans have been made

to test them for the virus. if the result is negative, and they can reassure their carrier, they should be able to fly home. in south korea, they've brought in the army to disinfect areas. it's got the highest number of cases outside china, with nearly 3,000 people having been infected. the world health organization has upgraded the global risk of the outbreak to its highest level and, as more cases are confirmed, there is uncertainty about the future scale of this outbreak. helena wilkinson, bbc news. our news correpondent briony leyland joins us now from haslemere health centre. briony, what's the latest there? well, it's been business as usual here. it reopened after a deep clean this morning, people have been coming and going for emergency out of hours clinic. people we have spoken to have been concerned about what's happening, but not overly worried. they've been keeping calm. we don't have any more information

about the man who was diagnosed with coronavirus beyond knowing he is being treated at the specialist infection centre in london, and we don't know if any of the staff here at the surgery have been affected. everyone is being reminded of the public health adviser to regularly and thoroughly wash hands, to catch sneezes and coughs in tissues and if you are experiencing symptoms, not to come to a surgery like this one but to call the nhs on 111. thank you very much. and you can find out more about the symptoms of coronavirus and how to protect yourself against it on the bbc news app and on our website bbc.co.uk/news. britain continues to be battered by yet another winter storm, with residents in east yorkshire evacuated from their homes following ongoing flooding, and police declared a "critical incident" in south wales overnight as river levels rose there too. weather warnings are now in place across much of the uk. olivia richwald is in snaith, east yorkshire.

how worried are the residents there? well, here in snaith, it actually started flooding on tuesday and, five days later, the flood water is still here. the problem is since the flood water over topped the barriers, it's got no where to go. to give you some context, where i'm standing is half a mile from the nearest river. so far, around 75 properties have been flooded in snaith and nearby villages and 100 residents have been evacuated. it is still very much an ongoing situation. the environment agency have deployed water pumps in east howick, quite near here, where they are trying to prevent the flooding from getting worse, around 30 properties there have been flooded. in south wales, what was being described as a critical situation has now been stood down by the police and it is hoped that flooding there will improve. in shropshire and worcestershire, engineers have worked to repair the flood defences ahead of strong winds which are for kat slater. it is march tomorrow and

eve ryo ne kat slater. it is march tomorrow and everyone here in snaith and everyone who has been flooded are desperate for a reprieve in the weather —— strong winds which are forecast for later. the united states and the afghan taliban are on the cusp of signing an historic deal which is expected to pave the way for afghan peace talks. the agreement is expected to be concluded this afternoon after more than a year of intensive negotiations in doha. our afghanistan correspondent secunder kermani joins us from the capital, kabul. well, a cautious sense of optimism has been growing here, particularly over the last week, whilst a partial truth has been in place but afghans here want to see this historic opportunity translate into a lasting peace on the ground. the us taliban agreement, which is about to be signed any moment in doha, won't do that alone, although it is a key step. it sets out a timetable for the withdrawal of american forces from afghanistan in exchange for guarantees from the taliban not to allow groups like al-qaeda to

operate in their territory. the taliban will then begin separate talks with other afghan political leaders about a broader ceasefire and about how the future of the country, what the future of the country, what the future of the country should look like. we have just learned that, if everything goes to plan, then all american troops will be out of afghanistan 14 months. thank you. with all the sport now, here's mike bushell at the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. liverpool are just four wins away from their first premier league title in 30 years. they play watford later today, a win means they would equal the longest winning league run in the history of the top five european leagues, matching bayern munich‘s 19 in a row in 2015. there is an early kick off under way. brighton taking on crystal palace. brighton are the only team in the top four english divisions yet to win a game in any competition in 2020 and are in need ofa win. it's currently 0—0. arsenal and chelsea meet in the women's continental league cup final this afternoon.

arsenal aiming to win the trophy for the sixth time in its nine—year history, chelsea are in the final for the first time. i think arsenal are going to be out for blood, considering we have beaten them both home and away the season beaten them both home and away the season and this is their chance to get some silverware this year. and, obviously, it is a conscious one for us obviously, it is a conscious one for us because we have never won this trophy before, so this was one of the key features of our season, making sure we got to the final and we ta ke making sure we got to the final and we take the trophy home. india secured top spot in group a of the women's t20 world cup with a dominant seven—wicket win over sri lanka. india have won all four of their group games and will face the team that finishes second in england's group in the semi—finals. england play west indies in sydney tomorrow and a win will all but guarantee their progression to the knockout stages. i don't think we are too far off. there are always bits and pieces you wa nt there are always bits and pieces you want to do a little bit better, but all teams are the same as that. but we are getting runs on the board, bowling teams out, which is a really

good sign and i think we have been here a long time, we are pretty close to our best and that is what you want to be coming into the latter stages of a tournament. heather watson is one win away from her first wta title in almost four years after reaching the mexican open final. she won in straight sets against china's wang xiyu. watson — the british number two — has not won a singles tournament since march 2016. ben ainslie has led a british side to a first victory in the sydney sail gp. ainslie, who won the first of his four olympic gold medals in sydney 20 years ago, now travels to san francisco for the second race of the season. that's all the sport for now. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at 5:40pm. bye for now.

hello. you're watching the bbc news channel with geeta guru—murphy — it's 1.11. pm. let's get more now on the impact of the coronavirus on businesses and the world's markets. here, the online supermarket ocado says it's experiencing an increase in customer demand. the bbc understands that this might be because of customers stocking up in case of any fallout from the coronavirus. the company sent an email to its customers yesterday, advising them that it is experiencing higher than usual demand for its delivery slots. well, earlier, i asked our business correspondent if other retailers were experiencing similar issues. i have been speaking to the other major supermarkets this morning. none of them would be drawn on whether they are seeing changes in customer behaviour, but certainly anecdotally, as you say, there is a sense that this is happening. and no advice from government or anywhere else as to whether we should be stocking up? not at present. we have been reporting for a while that there are certain products that are becoming quite difficult to get hold of, for example, hand sanitiser

and antibacterial wipes. i spoke to one of the major manufacturers of those products the other day, who said they are starting to see shortages and they are not sure whether they are going to be able to meet demand. we have also seen huge stock market falls globally and some new numbers from china on what this virus is doing to their economy. that's right. at 1.00am this morning, we got the first data out of china about how their factories have been doing since the coronavirus started. i'm afraid, as you would expect, it is not good and it is actually worse than analysts expected. that is because we have seen so much lockdown in china, people not being able to move around, that many of the factories have had to close because couldn't get the staff to keep operating. that obviously doesn't just have an impact in china, but because it is the factory of the world, it has an impact on other companies too. companies like jaguar land rover, volkswagen, apple, who really depend on china's manufacturing, and they are suffering as a result of this. just finally, we don't want to predict or scaremonger people, but if this does go on,

the economic impact could be bigger around the world. that can affect people's jobs and ability to cope even in the short—term, especially if you are a smaller business. that is what investors are so scared of and it is why we have seen those dramatic stock market falls this week. we just don't know how long this will go on for, but it does seem to be spreading. we have heard the credit ratings agency, moody's, which looks at this sort of thing, saying that if it does become a global pandemic, there could be a big global recession. flood—hit communities are still counting the damage from storm ciara and storm dennis, but some of those affected are now braced for more extreme weather this weekend. there are more than 90 flood warnings now in place across england and wales and storm jorge is expected to bring another 80 millimetres of rain. most of the uk has wind warnings in place from midday today. wind and rain in wales is expected to add to yesterday's problems, where several railway lines and roads were blocked by flooding, but south wales police say agencies are working together to deal

with the flooding and the ‘critical incident‘ status has now been stood down. michael evans, from natural resources wales joins us live now from cardiff. what is the situation? well, the situation in wales in terms of whether levels is improving. we had quite a lot of short, flashy weathers, such as the south wales valleys, where we have passed the peak valleys, where we have passed the pea k flows. valleys, where we have passed the peak flows. we have eight flood warnings out at the moment, but we have to go down 35 overnight, said the situation is generally improving, but on the larger rivers, such as the red d, david the second, we have kept in flood warnings out, but we do expect some flood warnings and risk to be increasing over the weekend. the situation in terms of surface water is still quite variable locally, so people must

ta ke variable locally, so people must take real care. never drive through floodwaters because that is where we see a lot of people getting into trouble, and similarly, don't try to walk through floodwaters. so we are expecting to see, as i say, with the levels decreasing over the next couple of days. how much is it going to cost to try to help people recover from this? we don't know. we have been flat—out dealing with the emergency situation at the moment, but we will be doing a full recovery operation with our partners, local authorities government, emergency services to assess, but the efforts i have seen eye running into tens of millions of pounds of damage. and is there enough help coming from all possible agencies, in your viewwell, we have been working... our main role is the longer term infrastructure development, making sure the flood schemes are in place and are there to give warnings to people. we were particularly closely

with the emergency services and they have been fantastic and making sure lives have been saved. making sure we are evacuating people during storm dennis, when we had very serious house or flooding. storm dennis, when we had very serious house orflooding. luckily, this weekend the situation has not been nearly as bad and we haven't seen been nearly as bad and we haven't seen peak flows early as high as we saw a couple of weeks ago with storm dennis. so how long do you think it will be before people will be able to start a clear out here? well, as i say, it depends on the river catchment stop in many other readers, they go up and down very quickly, so our staff already out looking at the infrastructure is that we manage, the flood banks, the drains, the grids, to make sure they are in working order and are ready for the next storm. i hate to say that, but it is inevitable that we will get most songs at some point in the future. that is our immediate focus, this recovery. then we will go into a period of working with our partners to make sure that we are reviewing how our services have

performed and what sort of level of service, we can improve on and prepare for any future. thank you so much. let's get more now on the news that the most senior civil servant at the home office, sir philip rutnam, has resigned. he says it's because of what he describes as a vicious, orchestrated campaign against him, and intends to sue the government for constructive dismissal. sir philip's decision follows reports of tensions between him and the home secretary priti patel, over allegations she mistreated officials. she's denied those claims. let's speak to the chair of the home affairs committee, the labour mp yvette cooper. your reaction to this resignation and what we have heard from sir philip. this seems to be a shocking level of breakdown of the normal functioning of government. and in a department that is so important, where you have got serious violent crime rising, where you have got sensitive brexit negotiations on security cooperation, important counterterror legislation coming forward. so i think it is frankly appalling that the home secretary

and also the prime minister had allowed it to come to this, when you have got such serious allegations being made by sir philip rutnam, that really frankly it should have been investigated and addressed and resolved before it came to this. do you think priti patel‘s position is really tenable, given these tensions? that is not a matter for me, given the evidence we have seen, but it is a matter for the prime minister and cabinet secretary. they have got to get a grip on this because we cannot afford to have such an department both distracted and this dysfunctional, when it has so and this dysfunctional, when it has so much important work on. i think the prime minister and cabinet cannot afford to wait for an employment tribunal to get to the bottom of this. that could take very many months. they need to investigate, there is and very seriously, into these grave allegations and they need to get a grip on this. we need a normal functioning of the home office to be

restored, when they have so much important work on. just to be clear, you're not calling for priti patel herself to be moved or not to be moved out? i don't think that is a matter for moved out? i don't think that is a matterfor me, moved out? i don't think that is a matter for me, based moved out? i don't think that is a matterfor me, based on moved out? i don't think that is a matter for me, based on the evidence. i think it is a matter for the prime minister and the cabinet secretary to address this. they have to make sure that the home office is functioning properly. there are so many serious things going on in the home office at the moment and we have already seen all sorts of problems and difficulties the department has dazed and serious challenges coming forward, and at a time when the government as a whole is also dealing with these very serious issues around flooding and coronavirus and of course, the sensitive ongoing post brexit negotiations. so the prime minister has to get a grip on this and not just allow this chaos to continue. you have to have a positive functioning relationship between civil servants, who worked immensely ha rd to civil servants, who worked immensely hard to deliver, and also ministers, who need to show leadership and be held to account. that relationship has to work effectively. you cannot

have the home office functioning properly if you have a poisoned relationship between the home secretary and senior civil servants. that is why it is so important for the prime minister and cabinet secretary now, not to just back off and let this drift amidst confusion and let this drift amidst confusion and at that dysfunctional relationship to continue, but to actually get to the bottom of this and properly investigate and address the serious allegations that have been made. couldn't you argue that effectively, this particular relationship now, which is obviously ended, but if people within the civil service are not able to support the work of a government with a huge majority, then they shouldn't be working in government because the government has made it very clear what its priorities are. the government does have priorities to deliver and they have been elected to do so. the civil service, all the civil servants i have ever met work immensely hard to try to deliver the government's priorities of the day. there are some very great allegations that have been

made, notjust great allegations that have been made, not just about the way great allegations that have been made, notjust about the way sir philip rutnam himself was treated, but also about the way other civil serva nts but also about the way other civil servants have been treated as well, so servants have been treated as well, so they have to be investigated because if there is a continuing impossible relationship between senior civil servants and senior ministers and if that continues, that will undermine the important work at the home office and other departments need to do. and that we, across the country, need them to do on our behalf. that is why it is the prime minister and the cabinet secretary who have to get a grip on this. there have been difficulties before between individual ministers and individual civil servants and normally, a way is how to address those and to ensure that concerns are properly investigated and to make sure that there is a way forward. that is why it is so serious that this has erupted in this way, in such a serious way and yet, we are still no further forward in having these allegations investigated or resolved. we all

need a functioning home office. we have heard, of course, reports about dominic cummings‘s attitude towards the way the civil service functions. isn't it the government's the right to change the way government works if they don't feel it is constructive? even if it is unconventional? they can create new departments, they can change the way departments, they can change the way departments work and they can do all those sorts of things. of course, though, if you want government to work properly, that means people need to be treated properly and fairly. if instead, what happens is you just have chaos and a dysfunctional relationship and you end up with the chancellor of the exchequer resigning because he doesn't feel that he can work in a way that somebody like dominic cummings has set out. or you have this sudden eruption, right at the top of the home office, with one in the most senior public servant in the most senior public servant in the country now taking legal action, court action, against the home

office, against the home secretary. that is immensely serious and it just distracts everyone. we need them functioning. it is an all in oui’ them functioning. it is an all in our interests to have a functioning government, to have a functioning government, to have a functioning government departments. and at the moment, even at a time when we have got the coronavirus crisis, the flooding crisis and sensitive ongoing brexit negotiations, which we need them to get right on our behalf, when all of that is happening to have this kind of chaos right at the top of the government? it is just dysfunctional. that is why the planet as it needs to take some response ability for this and get a some response ability for this and geta grip some response ability for this and get a grip and sort things out. thank you. there have been further clashes at one of greece's land border crossings with turkey, where hundreds of migrants — including syrians and afghans — have gathered to try to cross into europe. turkey's president, recep tayyip erdogan, has said his country can no longer handle the number of people fleeing syria. this morning, greek police again fired tear gas at people seeking to force their way across the border.

around 4,000 migrants are estimated to have arrived at the border, a day after turkish officials said it would let refugees head towards europe because of the worsening situation in syria. the greek government is holding an emergency meeting in athens, as it seeks to reinforce border security. turkey hosts nearly four million people in camps, and is concerned the fighting in and around the syrian city of idlib may lead to many more fleeing. our correspondentjonah fisher is in greece — on the kastanies border crossing. so we have been brought right to the middle of no man's land. we are still on the greek side. you can see live like there. and about 30 metres beyond that, that is controlled by the turkish authorities and just behind the barbed wire, you can see the several thousand migrants and refugees who are now in that turkish —controlled part of no man's land. and they have effectively been encouraged, given the green light to come right up to that barbed wire by

the turkish authorities over the last 2a hours or so. the number in that area, we understand, is going and there have also been clashes there. tear gas has been fired as they try and make their way into greece and into the european union. the greeks have been continuously reinforcing their presence here. you can see some of the riot police, who are right along the front there. we have seen lots of military security vehicles being brought into the area, as they try to increase their presence along the border. it has not been entirely effective in the 24 not been entirely effective in the 2a hours or so that we have been in this part of greece. we have seen several groups of afghan migrants on the road here, who have made their way across through unofficial, illegal crossing points will stop so although there is this formal confrontation, if you like, here, it is clear that there are other ways for migrants to get round the border post, and some are certainly making

their way into greece and into the european union. just to let you know, the us and the taliban have now signed a deal, that could see all american troops withdraw from afghanistan in the next four months, but added that the caliban promise to prevent —— de taliban promised to prevent afg ha nista n to prevent —— de taliban promised to prevent afghanistan again becoming a haven for more extremist groups. we will have more on that for you later. it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. we have had the rain from storm whole gay and now the winds are strengthening as well. this is tonight and into tomorrow, feeling colder with the rain and sunshine and showers. hill snow and rain will push across northern england and scotla nd push across northern england and scotland as we go for the remainder of the day, strong gusty winds out there, but particularly in southern and scotland england here, 50—60

mph, and again disruptive rain, falling onto the hills and the northern pennines. elsewhere, hell and funder for some, and tomorrow it isa similar and funder for some, and tomorrow it is a similar picture, showers around but also some sunshine, though the rain and hillsnow but also some sunshine, though the rain and hill snow in scotland. the snow really starting to pile up, could see up to 30 centimetres of new snow. another blustery day, they went will gradually ease out the day goes on and it will feel chilly in that win. next week is looking quite chilly, sunshine and showers. hello, this is bbc news — with geeta guru—murthy. the headlines: the most senior civil servant in the home office — sir phillip rutnam — resigns and says he'll sue the government for constructive dismissal after a public dispute with home secretary priti patel. i have been a target of a vicious orchestrated briefing campaign. it has been alleged that i have briefed the media against the home secretary.

this, along with many other claims, is completely false. a historic moment for afghanistan — in the last half hour, the us and the taliban sign a deal that will see the withdrawal of thousands of american troops. the uk's 20th coronavirus case is the first to catch it on british soil. a gp surgery that he visited in surrey is closed for deep—cleaning. a surge in south korea, with nearly 800 new cases reported on saturday — bringing the total to more than 3,000, the largest outside china. more than 80 flood warnings in place across england and wales, as many already struggling communities brace themselves for storm jorge. now on bbc news, inside out west midlands with ayo akinwolere. in the next 30 minutes, in the furious and putting the health of

workers at risk. also, criminals targeting valuable dogs to sell. it's heartbreaking, is like you have lost a piece of yourself. i'm constantly looking around. and hartley yha, at 90, is keeping up with the times. there are how are we doing?