this is bbc news. the headlines at four... borisjohnson is facing questions about whether he tried to tone down an independent report which said home secretary priti patel broke the ministerial code by bullying staff. none of us want to see bullying or poor practices within the workplace, and the home secretary has been clear that she would never want to do that intentionally. an online summit of the world's biggest economies is under way in saudi arabia. top of the agenda — the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. an alternative to a covid vaccine for people without functioning immune systems is entering its final stage of trials. a rocket attack on the afghan capital, kabul — at least eight people have been

killed and more than 30 injured. good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. the prime minister is facing further criticism for disregarding an independent report which said home secretary priti patel broke the ministerial code by bullying staff. number 10 has rejected claims, made by a whitehall source, that borisjohnson had asked for the inquiry findings to be toned down. it has insisted that the conclusions made by sir alex allan — who has now resigned as independent advisor on ministerial standards — were "entirely his own". our political correspondent helen catt has more. the findings of sir alex allan's report into priti patel were stark.

one of the government's most senior ministers had shouted and sworn at staff, and some of her behaviour had amounted to bullying. yesterday, she apologised. well, i'm here to give an unreserved apology today, and i am sorry if i have upset people in any way whatsoever. that was completely unintentional. but she stays in herjob, and that's put the focus back on her boss. borisjohnson‘s decision to back her and override sir alex's judgment on the ministerial code is drawing more criticism. the system depends on the prime minister standing up for standards in public life, and for taking action when his or her ministers breach those standards, and, for the first time, as far as i can remember, we have a prime minister who doesn't seem willing to stand up for high standards in public life. and there are claims that the prime minister had asked for the report to be toned down. a source has told the bbc that back

in the summer there were discussions between sir alex and borisjohnson about the challenges the report presented. another whitehall source said that sir alex had resisted pressure to make it more palatable. a downing street spokesman said that, as you would expect, the prime minister spoke to sir alex allan to further his understanding of the report, but that sir alex's conclusions were entirely his own. the report that's being published by sir alex allan is obviously independent. it is a nuanced report, reflecting clearly that the home secretary was working in an at times frustrating environment. borisjohnson considers the matter closed. labour does not. it has called for an independent investigation. downing street might be hoping that this will blow over, but there may be repercussions yet. helen catt, bbc news, westminster. the housing secretary, robertjenrick, has this afternoon defended the prime minister's decision to stand by priti patel. there has been an investigation,

and the prime minister has made his judgment. he is the arbiter of the ministerial code, and he has determined, having reviewed all of the evidence, that the home secretary did not breach the code. we all work with fantastic civil servants. i certainly do. i know the home secretary does as well, and we're very grateful for the work that they have done within government during the pandemic. none of us want to see bullying or poor practices within the workplace, and the home secretary has been clear that she would never want to do that intentionally. now it is very important that we move forward and i'm fully behind the home secretary. she is a brilliant home secretary and she is getting on with doing a very importantjob government. alex thomas is a former civil servant who now works for the institute for government. he told us this incident has shown the weakness of the oversight system.

it might draw a line under the priti patel matter and, obviously, the prime minister has made his decision and he's got to accept the political fallout from that, so we will see, i suppose, over the next few days whether it proves sustainable. but the questions that the process has raised, they absolutely shouldn't be overlooked or drawn a line under. it has shown the essential weakness of the oversight system that exists in that the prime minister can not just choose to stand by his minister, but actually conclude that there's been no breach of the ministerial code when an independent investigation has concluded otherwise. and if a prime minister can override an independent investigation, it does make you sort of wonder is it worth holding them in the first place? well, we obviously know more about this than we did before. there is a report, an independent person has looked into this and reached conclusions that we know about, even if we haven't seen the full report. so there is value in a process like this.

i would say the answer, given what we have seen over the last few days, isn't to sort of scrap the current system or say it's valueless, but to strengthen it and make sure that these things are properly investigated — both the commissioning of these sorts of investigations and the conclusions themselves. and then the prime minister can hire and fire who he wants. what do you make of the claim that the prime minister tried to tone down the report to make it more palatable? how credible do you think that is? so, we obviously don't know and there seem to be disputed accounts. i think it is entirely reasonable for a prime minister to talk to the person that has produced the report. in fact, i think it's part of thejob — it is right that the prime minister wants to understand what has gone on and to talk to the person who has done the investigation. if the prime minister then applies a bit of pressure, then the role of the independent investigator, alex allan, is, as seems to be case here, to resist that and say,

"actually, i have reached my conclusions and this is what stands," and that seems to be what has happened here. so, in one sense, this is part of the system that is working, in that the independent report resisted any pressure if pressure was, indeed, put upon him. in the report, we understand priti patel says civil servants didn't support her in her work. colleagues and friends have come out and said she is a very direct and passionate person. would those be mitigating circumstances for you ? i don't think they are mitigating for the accusation of bullying. bullying is bullying, and whatever frustrations you might be experiencing in the job don't justify that. but it does suggest to me that nobody is coming out of this very well. it is pretty extraordinary for alex allan, who was a senior civil servant, a very long and distinguished career, to conclude that both the home office and the department for international development were not sufficiently flexible and didn't support

their secretary of state. it may not be quite what everybody is focusing on now with the bullying accusation, but there is some pretty hard questions for the civil servants in those departments to ask themselves as well. do you think the home secretary should resign, though? all i can go on is the independent investigation that concluded that she did breach the ministerial code. not every breach of the ministerial code needs to lead to a resignation or a dismissal, but if it is bullying, that is sufficiently serious, so that is my convoluted way of saying i think if you follow those steps through, you get to a point where she should resign. 0k, and i did want to come back to a point that you made at the very beginning, and this is probably more with your hat on as programme director of the institute for government. you talked about the political fall out from this instance and whether borisjohnson‘s position was sustainable. what did you mean by that, exactly? i meant whether his decision to stand by the home secretary was sustainable.

so, in terms of the way the system really is supposed to work, a prime minister, as the prime minister did with dominic cummings, can choose to stand by their person, but they need to deal with the fall out from that. so, if you have got the independent investigation, you can't really have a situation where a prime minister can't decide who should be in their cabinet or in their ministerial team, but there are and should really be consequences to those decisions, so as much as the prime minister has suffered from standing by dominic cummings in the summer, it is possible that there will be wider political and public opinion fallout from that. i want to bring you the latest coronavirus figures for the uk, and there have been 19,875 new cases of covid—19 reported in the uk in the

last 2a hours. by way of comparison, thatis last 2a hours. by way of comparison, that is slightly down on the day before, when the figure was 20,252. the uk has recorded 341 deaths. those are deaths registered of people who had tested positive for covid—19 in the previous 28 days. that is a drop on the day before. it co m pa res to that is a drop on the day before. it compares to 511 the day before. it is often lower at the weekend, i should remind you of that. the prime minister has insisted he does not want to undermine devolution — after saying earlier this week it had been a disaster in scotland. borisjohnson told the virtual scottish tory conference he wanted policies which show how devolution can work for scotland and accused the snp of making it work

against the rest of the uk. just because i've criticised the performance of devolution doesn't mean i want to oppose devolution as a concept in itself. of course not. i'm a former mayor of london and i know how effective devolved powers can be, for example in making transport greener or tackling crime. devolution should be used not by politicians as a wall to sequester, to break away an area of the uk from the rest. it should be used as a step to pass power to local communities and businesses to make their lives better. the uk and canada have agreed a deal to continue trading under the same terms as the current european union agreement after the brexit transition period ends. the government says the agreement paves the way for negotiations to begin next year for a new comprehensive deal with canada, which has been touted as one of the benefits of the uk leaving the bloc. the prime minister said, "this is a fantastic agreement for britain which secures

transatlantic trade with one of our closest allies." leaders of the world's richest countries have begun an online g20 summit hosted by saudi arabia. the coronavirus pandemic is expected to top the agenda. aid campaigners have called on the meeting to provide urgent funding to help poorer nations deal with the pandemic. borisjohnson is taking part — he's calling for urgent action on climate change and the pandemic. 0ur chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, is in riyadh, where the summit is being hosted. the pandemic has completely dominated this summit, first of all, because every country around the world, almost without exception, is being affected, and many extremely seriously, by this deadly virus. and here in riyadh, it has shaped the very format of this summit.

you see behind me, the screens where the summitjust opened, and it was like being on the most high—level zoom call you will ever see where you have the big screen coming up that all of us have gotten used to, except in this case, you have president putin of russia getting into his chair, you have president trump at his desk in the white house, borisjohnson at 10 downing street. all of the world leaders gathering in this screen wherever they are, at home or at work, to listen to king salman of saudi arabia, and so, therefore, the covid—19 crisis has forced our world leaders to meet online in this way, and it has also been put at the top of this agenda — first of all to underline they are the wealthiest countries. they have to take care of their own nationals first, but they also have to be generous in helping the rest of the world, the poorer countries, respond to this health crisis, and also the economic consequences of the covid—19 crisis

that everyone worldwide, including in britain, know all too well. you say it is completely dominating the summit, but we do know that the issue of human rights in saudi arabia is a long—running issue, and i did wonder how much that might be overshadowing the summit, perhaps even at the fringes? if this is an online world, if you look online, you will find the g20 official summit statements and praising of the presidency of saudi arabia, but you will also find the counter summit organised by human rights groups, who have called for a boycott, who say that saudi arabia should release some of the dozens of activists, academics, intellectuals and journalists who are languishing in saudi maximum security prisons. there was even a call from the european union parliament for the summit to be boycotted.

but when you are here in the kingdom, you hear very little of that. saudi arabia wants to use this global stage to show its wide—ranging reforms at home, and there have been reforms on economic and social fronts, but in the same way that it is opening up economic and socially, it is closing down politically. so while it wants to shine on the world stage, there is still a dark cloud — most of all from the murder, two years ago, of the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. that hasn't gone away. the headlines on bbc news... the home secretary priti patel keeps herjob after being found to have broken rules by bullying staff. now questions for borisjohnson, over his influence on the report. an online summit of the world's biggest economies begins today in saudi arabia. top of the agenda — the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout.

an alternative to a covid vaccine for people without functioning immune systems is entering its final stage of trials. sport and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, here'sjohn. england are on top against ireland at twickenham in the second match of the autumn nations cup. they lead 12—nil thanks to a breathtaking display from jonny may who scored two tries in the first half, this the pick of them, a break from his own 22,

deep into irish territory, not one but two kicks which he chased down. into the sceond half they've added three more points from the boot of 0wen farreel — 15 nil they lead. it's the second of a double header at twickenham, earlier, england's women staged an incredible late fightback to beat france. they were 13 points down at one stage before a couple of late tries and then this penalty from emily scarratt with the last kick of the match sealing a dramatic victory. they win the series 2—0 and continue their build—up to next year's world cup in new zealand. the premier league returned today after the international break, which saw chelsea move to the top of the table, for the time being at least, after a 2—0 win over newcastle in the early kick—off. tammy abraham with one of their two goals, asjo currie reports. chelsea travelled to newcastle knowing a win could take the top. the united goalkeeper had to be alert early on. minutes later, the goalkeeper in action again, this

time keeping out abraham. there was little he could do, however, about the resulting corner. a well worked delivery and the defender getting his feet in a muddle. he bundled the ball into the back of his own net. chelsea's dominance continued. abraham chelsea's dominance continued. abra ham coolly slotted chelsea's dominance continued. abraham coolly slotted the ball in two double big lead. the home side needed some inspiration and it almost came from sean, his rockets denied by the crossbar. chelsea had a chance to make it 3—0, but the miss didn't matter. with a win in the bag, their title push remains on track. for newcastle, there is work to be done. danny welbeck put brighton ahead against aston villa, solly march putting them back

in front after villa equalised. they're leading 2—1. tottenham could move above chelsea if they beat manchester city at 5.30. the late game sees manchester united at home to west brom. novak djokovic and dominic thiem are in action in the first semifinal of the atp world tour finals in london. the us open champion thiem took the first set 7—5. the austrian is going for a first title at the event in london. djokovic is aiming for a record equalling sixth and took the second set on a tie—break with thiem squandering three match points. thiem will need to regroup after missing those three opportunities to reach the final. these live pictures over on bbc two at the moment. bbc one, i should say, at the moment. it is 1—1.

whoever comes out on top will meet the winner of rafael nadal and daniil medvedev, who meet in their semi—final tonight. we will have plenty more for you later on. the chancellor, rishi sunak, is to change the way the government assesses big spending projects, to remove the longstanding bias that has affected northern england and other regions outside the south east. the reforms are due to be unveiled in parliament at next week's spending review. our business correspondent katy austin has been giving us more details. with its political commitment to so—called levelling up, spreading prosperity across the country, the government wants to be talking about investment too, and investment in big public projects. so at the spending review, we are expecting the chancellor will announce tens of billions of pounds towards infrastructure, including road improvements, and the long—delayed national infrastructure strategy will be published, setting up flagship schemes on things like fibre broadband,

flood defences and transport. and yes, another big change is that the treasury's so—called green book, how it assesses the value of certain projects, will change towards considering the regional impact more, not just looking at the benefit compared to cost, which has been seen to favour london and the south—east at the expense of other regions, including the north. another thing we are expecting to hear about is something called a uk shared prosperity fund. this is replacing money the european union has allocated to less well—off areas. this new fund will be targeted at so—called "left—behind places", including coastal communities and former industrial heartlands. labour's shadow chancellor anneliese dodds has called for the spending review to put the country on the right path, saying communities up and down the country didn't want to hear more empty rhetoric.

requirements for fire safety paperwork introduced after the grenfell tower fire in 2017 have been eased by the government. the regulations require an external wall fire review process, known as an ews1, before a flat can be sold or remortgaged. the forms have been required even for buildings without external cladding, leading to delays in sales. but that will no longer be the case, as the housing secretary robertjenrick explains. we have got to tackle this issue where thousands of homeowners are finding themselves unable to sell or remortgage their properties. a terrible situation. so today we have reached agreement with the lenders and with the surveyors to say that the ews1 form is not required unless your building has cladding. that means that 450,000 homeowners will now have the certainty that they need, and in addition to that, we are funding to thousand more professionals to go out and do the assessments that are required, helping many thousands more

homeowners to get a certainty that they need to be able to move on with their lives. at least eight people have been killed and more than 30 others injured in a series of rocket attacks in the afghan capital kabul. the taliban has denied carrying out the attack which occurrred shortly before the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, was due to meet the group's negotiators in qatar. secunder kermani reports. it should have been an ordinary day at school. instead, panic and fear, as these children run for safety. cctv cameras captured the moment the rockets landed outside this popular bakery. translation: i was having breakfast when the rockets landed. one hit a van belonging to a bakery. at least three people were wounded. they have been taken to hospital.

a local resident filmed the rockets being fired from the street. this was the pick—up truck the attackers used. how they managed to get it inside the city is a major cause for concern. the taliban has denied responsibility, but violence has been flaring across the country in recent weeks, despite ongoing but slow—moving peace talks in doha. us secretary of state mike pompeo arrived there today to meet both afghan and taliban officials. some progress on initial issues seems to have been made but they haven't even begun discussing a ceasefire or power—sharing arrangement. in spite of the violence, us troops are being withdrawn from here. the new american president might look for another way forward but the fear is the bloodshed is only going to get worse. secunder kermani, bbc news.

a possible alternative to a covid vaccine is entering its final stage of trials. it's being developed for people with weakened immune systems who cannot be vaccinated. 5,000 patients from around the world are taking part in the study and trials involving 1,000 uk participants begin in manchester today. professor anna maria geretti is professor of virology at the university of liverpool, and explained how this injection differs from a vaccine. this is a cocktail of two antibodies that can work by blocking the virus from entering inside the body, inside the human cells. so they can block infection in those who have never been exposed to the virus, and they gain this protection in case they are exposed. they can also work at a second level, which is by preventing progression of an infection which has already become established.

the trial which has been announced, this large phase three trial, that tested the ability of this cocktail of antibodies to block the infection, to prevent the infection in those who had never experienced the infection before but are exposed to it. as you mentioned, it will target specifically a certain patient population, so those that are potentially vulnerable to the consequences of an infection with the coronavirus, because they have risk factors. but at the same time, they have circumstances that mean that they would be less suitable for a vaccine, perhaps they may not be expected to make an effective response to a vaccine, as in the case of people with defects in the immune system, perhaps the immune system has been weakened by treatment, as in the case of transplant recipients, for example, or patients with cancer. could this be an answer

for everybody, not just for the potentially vulnerable people you have just talked about? i think we have to look at vaccines as the best approach for those who can receive the vaccine safely and are expected to make an effective response. we need to look at the antibody cocktail as a complement, something we hope to develop and that will complement our strategies, will complement our tools to get on top of the pandemic by protecting those that are most vulnerable. this is really in the spirit of leaving nobody behind. the vaccine would be our major strategy for the prevention of infection and severe disease. the antibodies will complement our strategy, particularly for those patients who are less likely to benefit from vaccination. so they are not a replacement, but a complement to vaccination.

professor anna maria geretti there. freak ice storms in russia's far east have prompted a state of emergency with thousands left without power — but one man's thankful after a near miss in the city of vladivostok. here he is in the red jacket, clearing snow off his car as something catches his eye. that something was a huge concrete slab breaking off from the side of the building next to him. he may have escaped unharmed — the same can't be said for the car, can it? if that isn't the definition of a near miss, i do not know what is. let's catch up with the weather, perhaps rather more benign here at home. hello. an area of cloud and occasional rain

pushing very slowly further south through england and wales during the rest of today and into tonight. and by the end of tonight, that will be sitting across southern england. clearer skies behind it. a few showers into northern ireland overnight. lots of showers still running into the north and west of scotland. wintry on the higher hills. still driven along by strong winds, particularly in the northern isles. only very slowly easing tomorrow. and where you have got clear skies, temperatures in the cold spots will fall close to freezing, so it mayjust see a touch of frost going into tomorrow. but there will be sunny spells around us. southern england staying rather cloudy with patchy rain. it mayjust push back towards parts of south wales as the day goes on. elsewhere, you may catch a shower in north—west england or northern ireland — a bit more especially into western scotland. it will be a cooler dayjust about wherever you are tomorrow, but then again, there are these sunny spells to be had. a weatherfront bringing more rain into parts of scotland and northern ireland on monday and tuesday. pushing further south through england and wales on wednesday, and a mainly

dry end to the week. borisjohnson is boris johnson is raising borisjohnson is raising questions about whether he tried to turn down an independent report that said priti patel broke the ministerial code by bullying staff. an online summit of the worlds biggest economies is under way in saudi arabia. top of the agenda, the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. an alternative to a coded vaccine for people without functioning immune systems is entering its final stage of trials. —— a covid—19 vaccine. a rocket attack on the afghan capital kabul,... now on bbc news, the bbc‘s environment correspondent justin rowlatt chairs a remote debate asking why is it proving so difficult to stop climate change and the destruction