this is bbc news. the headlines... the most senior civil servant in the home office, sir philip rutnam, resigns and says he'll sue the government for constructive dismissal after a public dispute with home secretary priti patel. i have been the target of a vicious and 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 — the us and the taliban sign a deal that will see the withdrawal of thousands of american troops. the negotiation process in doha, with all of its twists and turns, has shown it is possible for us to take this step together. 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, and in the past few minutes there have been more cases confirmed in france and pakistan. more than 80 flood warnings in place across england and wales, as many already struggling communities brace themselves for storm jorge. and in half an hour, the terracotta army, british sculptor henry moore, and the man who rapped the reichstag — five art stories that shaped the world, with witness history at 2:30. the most senior civil servant at the home office, sir philip rutnam, has resigned,

saying it's because of what he describes as a vicious, orchestrated campaign against him. sir philip says he intends to sue the government for constructive dismissal. his decision follows reports of tensions between him and the home secretary priti patel, over allegations she mistreated officials. she's denied those claims. sir philip explained his decision to reporters in london this morning: i have this morning resigned as permanent secretary of the home office. i take this decision with great regret after a career of 33 years. i am making this statement now because i will be issuing a claim against the home office for constructive dismissal. in the last ten days, i have been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign. it has been alleged that i briefed the media against the home secretary. this, along with many other claims,

is completely false. the home secretary categorically denied any involvement in this campaign to the cabinet office. i regret i do not believe her. she has not made the efforts i would expect to dissociate herself from the comments. even despite this campaign, i was willing to effect a reconciliation with the home secretary, as requested by the cabinet secretary on behalf of the prime minister. but despite my efforts to engage with her, priti patel has made no effort to engage with me to discuss this. i believe that these events give me very strong grounds to claim constructive, unfair dismissal and i will be pursuing that claim in the courts.

let's speak to our political correspondent helen catt. we will go to her in just a moment. just to talk a little bit more about the statement which he was making there, perhaps the most striking thing about this is perhaps that he did not only do this in public and in camera, which is very unusual, but he also directly accused the home secretary of not telling the truth. he says the home secretary has categorically denied any involvement in the campaign to the cabinet office. i regret i do not believe her. helen is with me. that isa believe her. helen is with me. that is a remarkable accusation for someone is a remarkable accusation for someone in the circumstances to make. it is all remarkable. do permanent secretaries resign, yes they do, but usually it is a quiet affair. they don't usually do it in front of the television cameras. they do not go on to say that they are going to sue the government for

constructive dismissal. as you say, they absolutely do not usually accuse the boss of lion, which is what he did thereby saying that he regrets he does not her, so the whole thing is pretty remarkable. we have seen a lot of scrutiny recently on what is happening behind the scenes in government. the idea about tensions, stories of tensions in the home office for some time, and now this has really bubbled over into the public domain in this extraordinary way, but we have also seen extraordinary way, but we have also seen issues around special advisers for example, there was a sajid javid resigning as chancellor just for example, there was a sajid javid resigning as chancellorjust a couple of weeks ago over being told to sack his advisers. we saw a treasury aid last year was escorted out of downing street, so there seems to be a great amount of scrutiny behind the scenes. what is difficult for the government in a situation is there has been a colla pse situation is there has been a collapse of trust between the home secretary and sir philip, but in his statement, he is also alleging, and

we should say alleged because she has denied this, alleging a series of behaviours that amount to, in his view, the bullying of staff. presumably if this goes to a tribunal, this is the sort of stuff that will be aired in the public domain. as you said, there have been these accusations of bullying and belittling officials. he used those words again today, and they have been denied by priti patel. many ministers have come forward to defend her and say this is not the priti patel they recognise, but you are right, if this goes to an employment tribunal, all the dirty laundry of the home office will be aired in public, and that could prove increasingly difficult for the government. thank you very much. let's speak now to the historian sir anthony seldon, who has written biographies of our last five prime ministers. he had the opportunities to wander the streets of downing street

speaking to advisers. what are your observations on this departure? this is the very last moment that any sta ble is the very last moment that any stable government is going to want to ta ke stable government is going to want to take on the civil service, to have lost a chancellor of the exchequer and now the civil service head of one of the very major departments of state and at a time when the country is trying to come out of the eu, negotiate a new trade deal, has a major crisis with coronavirus, it is really an odd way to show that you are working with those people who are going to have to carry out the will of the government, namely the civil service. this is unprecedented, but it is also unwise. i think the prime minister has to get a grip now. the prime minister is the chief executive of this country, in charge

of the whole of the civil service, andi of the whole of the civil service, and i have to say, this kind of intimidation and hectoring and co nsta nt intimidation and hectoring and constant briefing of civil service. there was briefing a week ago about at ship list of top permanent secretaries which went unchallenged. the prime minister has to stand up as the head of this executive branch and say no more. now, this is not saying that the civil service does not need to be significantly reformed. of course it does. many institutions in britain need reform as we come out of the eu, and in the light of ai and many other changes, but you are not going to get reform, you're not going to get good will of people if you carry on like this, and this might just people if you carry on like this, and this mightjust be the iceberg,

this regulation. there is an issue of trust here, because there are those who are particularly have felt frustrated by the way the civil service approached brexit, and i guess priti patel would have been among this, and felt at times the civil service had not taken a cooperative approach, being too conservative at a time which was requiring radicalism. as some of this is the consequence of that, do you think? i don't know, you would have to ask them what is in their mind, but the experience of history is that where you have a government and cabinet ministers who know their own mind, they do get the civil service doing what they want them to. it is the uncertain ministers, those who do not know how to run

anything, actually, who resort to this kind of practice. a really significant point here is 1945, the most radically reforming government, whose agenda was far bigger than any agenda of a government today. there area agenda of a government today. there are a key figure behind, harold lasky, the economist, the thinker and chairof lasky, the economist, the thinker and chair of the labour party, he said there was no way we can get the kind of radical reforms we want through the civil service, and yet it was the civil service that delivered the most radically reforming government perhaps ever in the history, or certainly recent history, of this country. it is simply the way you go about it, and trust has to be rebuilt with the civil service and the prime minister has to come out of this on top and assert he is in charge. it is

difficult as well for the cabinet secretary because he was the man who actually conducted a report, i remember, when priti patel was part of international development which would lead to her having to resign from the government as she was accused of following her own foreign policy, and now he finds himself stuck in the middle between a cabinet minister who had lost confidence in the most senior civil servant and a civil servant who has accused her of lying. it is hard for him to resolve this. what matters to the country now is getting on top of coronavirus, getting on top of brexit, getting the best possible trade deal out of the eu, building other trading relationships afterwards, sorting out an enormous backlog of domestic policy, social ca re backlog of domestic policy, social care and many others, improvements to schools, policing, this is what really matters. to pick this kind of

fight now is very, very strange, and it is unprecedented to have a civil servant that senior in a department that important, the home office, doing this so soon after not least losing a chancellor of the exchequer. this is a time for the assertion of the prime minister to calm things down and to re—establish what the norms and rules of engagement are. yes, the civil service needs reform, yes, it played afar service needs reform, yes, it played a farfrom service needs reform, yes, it played a far from perfect role, service needs reform, yes, it played a farfrom perfect role, i'm sure, in the brexit discussions, but that does not mean you handle it in this way. it is really urgent. this is a very bad time to pick a fight. thank you very much. some breaking news.

the figure is at 23, those that have the coronavirus, the total number of people to have tested positive. the number of people tested is 10,000, just over 10,000, and the number who have tested negative, 10,460, meaning there are 23 positive cases. to have recently returned from italy and the other from asia, so those are likely to have been effected outside of the uk, the total now 23. we will bring you more on that story in the next few minutes. the us and the taliban have signed an historic deal which could see all american troops withdraw from afghanistan in the next 14 months, provided the militants uphold their commitments. the deal was signed in the qatari capital doha by us special envoy zalmay khalilzad and taliban political chief mullah abdul ghani baradar. as part of the accord, the taliban have promised to prevent afghanistan from again becoming a haven for extremist groups. they have also committed to attend future talks with the government in kabul.

the us secretary of state mike pompeo was in doha to witness the signing of the deal. he said the us would closely monitor the taliban's commitment to its terms. the agreement that we will sign today is the true test of this effort. we will closely watch the taliban's compliance with our commitments and calibrate the pace of our withdrawal to their actions. this is how we will ensure that afghanistan never again serves as a base for international terrorists. the negotiation process in doha, with all of its twists and turns, has shown it is possible for us to take this step together. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet is in doha, where the deal will be signed. ina sense, in a sense, a series of baby steps to this process, always the possibility of pulling back, but we shouldn't underestimate presumably how significant this is after so many years of conflict. the symbol

of today's ceremony here in doha is absolutely extraordinary, to see senior us officials and senior members of the taliban movement on the same stage, both talking about the same stage, both talking about the same stage, both talking about the same deal, then signing this agreement in front of dozens of envoys and foreign ministers around the world, these same sides who have fought each other on the battlefield for nearly two decades. this is truly history, but the significance of it will only be judged in the months to come, and the afghans are watching this so closely. many of them have a realfear over what watching this so closely. many of them have a real fear over what kind of caliban are looking to come back. what do they mean when they talk about the government that is a cce pta ble about the government that is acceptable to the majority of afg ha ns 7 acceptable to the majority of afghans? and what about this head of the delegation here who talked about an islamic system, islamic values, which got cheers and islamic chanting from the rim, is this the

kind of islamic system which is a cce pta ble kind of islamic system which is acceptable to afghanistan in 2020? there is still a lot of big questions that have been asked, and no answers yet. one absentee, the afg ha n no answers yet. one absentee, the afghan government itself. it spent yea rs afghan government itself. it spent years trying to establish its authority around the country, backed by the united states, and other allies like the uk. what is its view of this agreement? it is interesting how today's events where carefully choreographed. there was a moment here where of course the taliban we re here where of course the taliban were publicising for alex willis to —— for all it's worth... the ceremony attended by the secretary of the science with a long agreement signed by the afghan government. as well as the rest of nato forces, they are sending a message that they are working hand—in—hand with the

afg ha n are working hand—in—hand with the afghan government to protect the security of afghanistan and to ensure that the details of this agreement are kept by the taliban, but the taliban have always said, first we will talk to, what they describe as the foreign occupiers of afghanistan, and then we will meet with an afghan delegation. we repeatedly asked taliban leaders today before and after the ceremony will you now talk to the government? they don't mention the word, but they do say everyone should be heard and we will talk to all afghans. one of the guests at the ceremony is the nato secretary general. he has just told troops there that the reason it has been possible to get to this stage is because of you, because of the international presence. there might be those watching who wonder what the international presence has achieved, because it is about initially getting osama bin laden, and then it was about getting rid of the taliban, and then it was about

democracy and education for girls and all kinds of other things, where does all that stand if the international presence leaves?” think if you go back year after year since the fall of the taliban in 2001, the international community kept shifting the goalposts, shifting their goals, and just remember what the mantra was in 2001 when the then prime minister tony blair stood next to the then afghan leader in addition to other leaders and said we are standing shoulder to shoulder, we are with you for the long run, and afghans questioned then what is the long run? remember at the height of the foreign troop presence, it was more than 100,000. that was —— now it is about 16,000 mainly us but also nato forces. with nato forces, they will also draw down as the us forces drawdown. they

may be saying in campbell that this is your victory, but here in doha, the caliban have made it absolutely clear they won the war and this is the only reason why all this is happening. —— taliban. the department of health has announced that three more patients have tested positive for coronavirus. to have recently returned from italy and one from asia. authorities are trying to establish how a man from surrey became the first to contract the coronavirus within the uk as he has not travelled abroad. he is now being taken care of in a specialist unit in london. 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, but just 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? 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. the issue remains that people need to be negative long enough to simply read. i can tell you right now people in the uk are being tested

for covid—19. this is a development because the test was the barrier to getting them home after the end of the 14 day quarantine. remember, one company, jet2, said that despite what officials were saying about leaving the hotel, they could not fly people back to the uk until they had finished two weeks of quarantine at the hotel or had the test, so this comes after the foreign office sent a letter to guests at the hotel last night. it said if the result is negative and you remain well, and do not show any symptoms at the airport, you will be able to fly home. on your return, you will be asked to self—isolate, even if you do not have symptoms until the 10th of march. we have seen some guests being allowed to leave the hotel this morning, being accompanied by a police officer is wearing face masks. they are from various countries, 57 in total have now been allowed to leave the hotel, and i think today we will start to see

more of that. people leaving gradually, having that final health check before being allowed to go home and self—isolate, and we have had an update from health officials in the canary islands. they say the five who tested positive for coronavirus this week, the four at the hotel and one lady on the neighbouring island, they have said that they are now all making good progress in hospital. fiona dropped into tenerife. thank you very much. 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. i'm nowjoined by our business correspondent, katie prescott. she has been digging around behind this. what is the caddo saying and is this an experience echoed by

other supermarkets? it is interesting, they are keen to stress that it interesting, they are keen to stress thatitis interesting, they are keen to stress that it is not to do with food shortages but it has seen a surge in demand and is advising customers to book well in advance for their delivery slots. i have spoken to other supermarkets today, they are all tight—lipped about what their customers are doing, but certainly anecdotally, it does seem that people are starting to get nervous and stocking up on products from their shop. we know that in certain parts of the world, obviously china very specifically, there are issues about supplier because production has been reduced or halted in some cases, holidays are extended to allow people not to be travelling and risk infection. presumably all of that will have a knock—on effect, but a lot of things that supermarkets sell do not come from so supermarkets sell do not come from so far away from coronavirus hit areas. that is right, and that is why micro they are saying that this is not about —— this is why ocado are saying not to panic.

antibacterial wipes, things that people are buying much more of, rather than freshford. we have had some news in the last few moments that the french government is going to ban any gatherings of people of 5000 and above. we heard that the motor show was cancelled, but presumably the business impact of that are quite major, talking about major sporting events and festivals coming up in the next few months, opportunities for people in the hospitality businesses, it all becomes quite worrying if this becomes quite worrying if this becomes a sustained pattern. not least the olympics, and we have seen a lot of companies react this, so many of the big banks are saying, if you are going to asia, you need management approval to do so. a lot of companies are banning travel to places like italy. british airways said this week they do not know how much money they are going to make this year or their profits because

they have been so affected. travel and leisure has been very hard hit. we heard from the bank of england of the potential impact on the economy, and it is a difficult thing to model because we do not have many precedents on the potential scale of coronavirus, but what is being looked at? what are people factoring in at this stage? and important dataset came out from china this morning which is the manufacturing index and the services sector index, showing how those industries have been faring in february, so the first data since the coronavirus started. they have shown a major contraction, and for the first time, iam hearing contraction, and for the first time, i am hearing from economists that we might see the chinese economy go right into recession, whereas people we re right into recession, whereas people were talking about a slowdown before, so obviously that because china is the second largest economy, that has a knock—on effect globally, particularly when you see the virus start to spread to other countries, so start to spread to other countries, so i'm afraid we are starting to

hear about the possibility of a global recession. and on monday on bbc one in the evening we have a special programme on the outbreak — that's coronavirus: everything you need to know at 7.30 on monday. britain continues to be battered by yet another winter storm. follwing storm ciara and storm dennis — this time it's storm jorge. 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. wind warnings are now in place across much of the uk until tomorrow. our correspondent olivia richwald is in snaith, in the east riding of yorkshire. what is the situation? deceptive as a lwa ys what is the situation? deceptive as always that it looks like a bright day. it is a bright day, but it is very cold and windy. here started flooding on tuesday, and as you can see, the flood water is still here, and that is a problem. it is not receiving very fast at all. to give

you some context, where i am standing is half a mile away from the river. there is so much water here. what is the ongoing situation and can we expect it to get better? joining me is adam from the environment agency. is there any sign of things improving in this area? river levels in the area itself are starting to fall which is good news for the area itself. wash lands are remaining very full around here, especially where we are continuing to operate our pumps. we know 75 homes have been flooded in this area and residents have been evacuated. do you know how many members of staff are working for you at the moment? we have had hundreds of staff from the yorkshire area but also around the country working for the environment agency, providing mutual aid for us here, but it is a much bigger organisation than that when you include the local services like the fire and police, and even ca nals like the fire and police, and even canals river trust who are helping us. canals river trust who are helping us. this area is called the wash

lands. this is what it is designed to do. this is much worse, is there any idea how long the floodwater will be around? if you look at the area that is covered, it is about 80% of the coverage of lake windermere, so although it is not as deep, it is still an awful lot of water that we need to see drain away from the wash lands and help the water go away. thank you very much and i'll let you get back to your work. adam has been working for weekends in a row covering flooding. there is some good news, though. last night, the situation in south wales was described as critical. that has now been downgraded and it is hoped the floodwater there will proceed. meanwhile in hereford and worcestershire, they have shored up the flood defences. engineers have been brought in ahead of strong winds in the forecast. there are weather warnings for wind that covers much of the uk, and also a yellow warning in snow, but it is hoped that there will be some reprieve from the weather. one of the nice things about covering stories like this is it always

amazes me at the community response that comes out at times like this. just around the corner from here, there is a church that is full of donations that people have brought m, donations that people have brought in, and there is a team of volu nteers in, and there is a team of volunteers that are cooking hot meals and cups of tea, trying to help get through this horrible situation. good to end on a positive note. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. it is moving to the north of scotla nd it is moving to the north of scotland and spreading east as i speak, but we have seen the back of the persistent rain. the problem is the persistent rain. the problem is the winds are starting to get a bit stronger on the southern flank of this weather of low pressure, storm storm dennis, so that is tonight and into tomorrow, particularly across england, scotland and wales, gusts of up to 70 mph winds are disruptive. these are wind gusts showing that it is very blustery

across the uk, many of us