leaders at the climate change summit in glasgow say they've made progress in the race to limit global warming. there have been bold commitments to end deforestation by 2030 and to reduce emissions of methane. the cop26 host, borisjohnson says it's time to deliver on the promises. a four—year—old girl who disappeared from a campsite in australia more than two weeks ago has been found alive inside a locked house. cleo smith vanished from her family's tent near the town of carnarvon in october. a man is being questioned by the police. america's centers for disease control and prevention, has given its final approval for children aged five to 11, to receive the pfizer—biontech covid vaccine. federal administrators say the decision has cleared the way for the vaccination of up to 28 million children.

now on bbc news it's hardtalk, with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk, i am stephen sackur. the trump presidency challenged many public officials to make a choice, obey directives from the white house against the betterjudgement or take a stand and face the wrath of the pro— trump movement. my guest today, fiona hill, former russia adviser of the white house, took a stand. she was a key witness in the president's first impeachment and has since had time to reflect on what trump meant for america and its geopolitical standing. has america learned the right lessons from the last five yea rs 7

fiona hill, welcome to hardtalk. you've had quite a lot of time to reflect the last couple of years, reflect on some key decisions that you were involved in and let's start off with the basic one. do you now regret your decision to take up that opportunity to join the national security council inside the donald trump white house? i don't actually because the motivation forjoining the administration back in 2017 was what had happened in 2016 when the russian intelligence

services at the direction of the kremlin interfered in the presidential election, that was the 2017, 2016 presidential election. as we all know, that created chaos in us politics and became a massive domestic crisis and i certainly felt as someone who has served before and the government, as national intelligence officer for russia back in 2006 to 2009 under both the bush and 0bama administrations that something had to be done, and part of my motivation was to do something of the national security front desk concerned about what the russians had done and i would do it again, for sure. ultimately, you're working for a boss who from the very get—go patently didn't believe or didn't want to believe that moscow was involved in that interference in the 2016 election which you regarded as so important and so dangerous. absolutely right, he did not want to believe it because that put a great big cloud over his

legitimacy as president. directly, that was directly with the russians wanted to do. they wanted to interfere in the election so everyone would have doubts about the outcome and the russian security services thought this was revenge for what they perceived the united states have done and particularly hillary clinton when she was secretary of state against vladimir putin's return to the russian presidency in 2011 when there were mass demonstrations and opposition to his presidency. i was well aware of all of that along with many other people and the thought was perhaps we could do something to persuade trump action needed to be taken. it is a bit odd that what we're saying is you made a decision to take a job with a boss who you felt to be fundamentally wrong—headed and possibly dangerous. look, when something happens like this, i thought about at the time that your house is on fire and had to

stand up and do something. i've been working on russia for decades. started studying russia in 1984. the whole premise was an old one, they did it during the cold war and is propaganda, pretty sophisticated influence in operation and i felt that if i did not stand up, who also try to do this. and there are a lot of other people who i knew and the government who were trying to do something to address this too. so i thought it was worth the effort no matter how it turned out later. we will address how it turned out later. i just want to change tact for a moment. i'm intrigued to see you in your home where we are interviewing you from you've put a copy of your recently published book and, there's nothing for you here, it is called. and that message is something that i want to discuss with

you because you took this very seniorjob in the us administration he became a naturalised us citizen and you began life in the northeast of england. you're child of a former miner, and it was pretty extraordinary to just chart the trajectory you took from that childhood to getting a top job at the white house. do you believe that kind of opportunity would not of being open to you if you stayed in the uk? it was all about timing, right? i came to the united states in 1989 and i left my home town to go to university in 1984 when there was a massive youth unemployment crisis, 90% of school leaders in that period did not have anything to go on to a nozzle of the lucky ones to get a place in college. and i think if i had stayed in the uk, i wouldn't have entered this area. i probably would've gotten into a different track entirely. when i came to the united states in 1989 on a

scholarship, the timing was really important in many aspects. it was the end of the cold war, and id a degree in soviet studies and by the theresa may ended that degree the soviet union was history. so i've found myself moving along with the times and seeing a real breakthrough as well in us soviet and us russian relations at the time so i've found myself right in the thick of action that they don't think they would have been had i'd beenin they would have been had i'd been in the uk but also honestly, it was the class and accent issue. when you got to the united states nobody can distinguish between a bbc accent like yours and mine from the north—east of england. we were all the same for them, it's a british accent and i immediately found that the kind of accent buyers that i had encountered in the uk all the way along had disappeared when they got to the united states, no—one really cared where i was from butjust what i was doing and what i was capable of

doing. and what i was capable of doinu. ., , ., and what i was capable of doin. _ ., y., ., ., . doing. one of your overarching messages _ doing. one of your overarching messages seems _ doing. one of your overarching messages seems to _ doing. one of your overarching messages seems to be - doing. one of your overarching messages seems to be that. doing. one of your overarching messages seems to be that all democratic societies need to get over the limitations they put on people who come from the wrong side of the tracks if i can put it that way, and do you think, before we get back to the united states and your recent experiences, do you think the uk has overcome its preoccupation with class, geography, where you are from and how you speak because there's some interesting anecdotes in your book including one about tony blair which suggest you think the uk still has a big problem? i think the uk has still got a long way to go. the reference to tony blair who was one of the local mps from the north of england when one is sent to the prime ministership and he was mp for sedgefield, next constituency, in theory also from the north, growing up in durham as well as edinburgh, tony blair was amazed when he

met me and aspen colorado, he says how did you get here? i said i got on a plane are causing it how you get here from the north—east of england from the north—east of england from a comprehensive skill with an accent like mine to be presenting at this big festival that he was also at. that brought home to me how much the uk is still shaped by accent class and geography. the uk has made huge strides on gender and race diversification in politics and in the bbc and elsewhere and you do of course here a lot more northern accents in the bbc then you did before but people still get a lot of complaints. i've noticed as i was looking at the book, i would look at people with a northern accent and what the comments were about their appearances on tv or radio and find that people were complaining about the accent still and in politics, you certainly don't see a lot of people from the north that you can distinguish they are from the north from their accent and their background. entertainment, the news, media

and everything else, absolutely but i still think the uk has got a long way to go and the us does too. there is very similar geographic discrepancies in the united states too. you geographic discrepancies in the united states too.— united states too. you do talk about that _ united states too. you do talk about that but _ united states too. you do talk about that but let's _ united states too. you do talk about that but let's park - united states too. you do talk about that but let's park that i about that but let's park that now for a minute and get back to the course of your career inside the nsc in the trump white house stopper you've already said to me you could see there were some pretty fundamental problems with trump's attitude even when you took the job in 2017 but as things unfolded, both with his reaction to the allegations that russia had intervened massively or tried to in the 2016 election, but also his reaction to certain events that occurred, like for example the poisoning of the former russian spy poisoning of the former russian spy circus grip all in salisbury england, surely you could see a pattern where trump was trying to avoid the reality of what putin's russia was and

you were in the nsc and you were trying to persuade him otherwise and failing and again it is a question i often put to public officials, how often did you contemplate getting the hell out of there, resigning? —— sergei skripal. i hell out of there, resigning? -- sergei skripal.— hell out of there, resigning? -- sergei skripal. i head given m self a -- sergei skripal. i head given myself a time _ -- sergei skripal. i head given myself a time limit _ -- sergei skripal. i head given myself a time limit to - -- sergei skripal. i head given myself a time limit to be - myself a time limit to be honest before a even went on. based on all the things that you are outlining there, i knew that this was going to be very difficult. i did hope that with other officials there and people mindful of what had just happened on the national security front, this massive russian effort to subvert the elections, we would be able to focus our minds beyond all the domestic political noise. of course i believe that wasn't as feasible as i had hoped even though there were many others pretty like—minded and trying to push back against this but just exactly as you say, trump himself didn't want to recognise the facts. part of it was his own fears about having to acknowledge that there had

perhaps been some questions about the outcome of the election. think about it, if putin had actually said to him in any of these meetings, yes donald i did interfere and i did get you elected, i imagine his mind would have been blown by all of this because trump was in a own premise for his presidency was that he had won, he had won big, put on this fantastic campaign, he talked about it all the time and his own ego was so fragile that he couldn't accept that the russians might have intervened and had some sort of influence on his behalf. the other thing is that he actually admired putin and i got to see that first—hand. putin epitomised the kind of leader he saw himself as being and that is not anything to do with a judgement on russia, it's what he saw putin standing for, someone who is very powerful, he was very strong and trump used those words about putin quite frequently stopper he didn't have many checks and balances on his power and he also saw him as very rich and very famous and running the country like his own witness.

those are very often, people say that's a very unfortunate way of thinking about putin, because this is not what we expect from an american president, but trump really saw putin as a peer. not as a competitor in the kind of sense of us russia relations but putin was the kind of leader that he wanted to emulate on his own style and approach to government and the united states. �* ., ., ., states. i'm not going to say ou states. i'm not going to say you quit — states. i'm not going to say you quit but _ states. i'm not going to say you quit but you _ states. i'm not going to say you quit but you walked - states. i'm not going to say i you quit but you walked away from yourjob for various reasons in the summer of 2019 but you then faced a very tough choice. would you testify as part of the first impeachment process against donald trump. you knew trump had very powerful friends, you knew trump had very powerfulfriends, had a you knew trump had very powerful friends, had a very powerful friends, had a very powerful movement. did you think very hard before choosing to go so public? itunieiiii think very hard before choosing to go so public?— to go so public? well look, because — to go so public? well look, because i _ to go so public? well look, because i had _ to go so public? well look, because i had gone - to go so public? well look, because i had gone into . to go so public? well look, | because i had gone into the administration in the first instance, and that was a tough

decision as well, i did have to think about that, i had a lot of people they don't do it, some people said they wouldn't speak to me again if i did and they haven't, and so irrespective of what i was preparing to do in terms of thinking about national security, there was a lot of people really worried about trump himself and the kind of damage that he was likely to do to the united states which we have actually seen. having already made that decision, when i was subpoenaed as a fact witness along with many other people, colleagues they worked with really closely, i thought there was no question they had to stand up. i head already been targeted. all kinds of defamation, on the internet, horrible phone calls, threats to me and my family all over the place. vi was called all kinds of strange things, part of a conspiracy according to many of these trials. (crosstalk)- many of these trials. (crosstalk) y o, , (crosstalk) sorry to interrupt fiona, (crosstalk) sorry to interrupt fiona. but _ (crosstalk) sorry to interrupt fiona, but do _ (crosstalk) sorry to interrupt fiona, but do you _ (crosstalk) sorry to interrupt fiona, but do you think- (crosstalk) sorry to interrupt fiona, but do you think the - fiona, but do you think the fact that as we discussed at the very beginning of this

interview, you don't sound like most americans because you are born in the uk and your background was a little different and you are quote unquote european—american. do you think that played into the demonisation of you coming from that trump movement? sure it did because _ from that trump movement? sure it did because i _ from that trump movement? sure it did because i was _ from that trump movement? c”, it did because i was very hard to pin down, right? i don't have any particular ideological affiliation, i'm not a member of a party, i've got this accent that for many people as british but could be something else. i've worked on russia soviet union for years so there's this idea that they could be a double, quadruple agent. the of things that were on the internet about me would make your head spin so people are trying to undermine your credibility, they are trying to catch out, they are trying to put you in boxes, try to get you involved in all these conspiracies stopping the whole point is to get you out of the way and i understood that right away and of course having been

studying russia and the soviet union and the kinds of conspiracy theories and propaganda that had come out of there for decades, i was already prepared, so are you it came with the territory but of course very unnerving to think of yourself being exposed like that in front of literally millions of people with the whole world watching when you have to step up to testify, so i did think about that but i head or egon across those thresholds so there was no question that they had to step up question that they had to step up again and do something. it is fairto up again and do something. it is fair to say that in your testimony you were extremely levelheaded. you did not indulge in hyperbole to but since then you have gone quite a long way towards hyperbole. you describe, for example, the trump movement and, in particular, what happened on january six with the assault on the capital after the us election, you describe that as a deadly serious attempt at a coup with clear and

unmistakable parallels with russia. there you are clearly drawing direct parallels between trump and putin. are you now engaging in the sort of hyperbole that your opponents were engaging in? i hyperbole that your opponents were engaging in?— were engaging in? i push back on that because _ were engaging in? i push back on that because i _ were engaging in? i push back on that because i am - were engaging in? i push back on that because i am also - on that because i am also laying out the facts and the facts are very stark because since that experience that i had, that we all had of watching the search impeachment unfold, the president went on to far more serious things, serious enough, right, basically trying to engage, as you laid it out, with the leader of a fun foreign country to open investigations into a fellow american politician, the main contender in the next presidential election, with the goal of undermining the other person's candidacy and taking opposition campaigning to a different level. but since then

we saw president trump talked down the presidential election to the point where my colleagues in the department of homeland security who are supposed to be pushing back against the russians and others who might interfere in an election had to speak out against president trump to reassure american voters, and american election officials that the vote was safe and secure. so president trump went on to try and undermine american democracy and i do feel, again, thati american democracy and i do feel, again, that i have to speak out, especially as someone who has watched these interactions between donald trump and putin, knowing what the russians want to do in the sulphate is that much of the action the president trump has taken are in parallel with the interests of the russian security services and they can be easily exploited. could i give one quick example? after president biden met with

president biden met with president putin in geneva in the first summit meeting, you had two president —— separate press conferences and vladimir putin was asked human rights abuses in russia and he quickly deflect did and said look what is happening in the united states and he touched on race and racial discord and black lives matter movements which is an old trope of soviet times as well as the russians. he immediately honed in on what happened onjanuary six immediately honed in on what happened on january six 2021 where we had the happened onjanuary six 2021 where we had the mob storming the us capital which was a shock for people in the uk too, thinking of some of the things that might happen again thousands of parliament, for example to putin quickly called the mob political protesters. turning this around and jumping right into the kind of rhetoric and words that had been used by president trump. i and words that had been used by president trump.— president trump. i see the oint president trump. i see the point you _ president trump. i see the point you are _ president trump. i see the point you are making - president trump. i see the point you are making but l president trump. i see the . point you are making but what is interesting is that donald

trump has not gone away, there is a strong possibility he will try to run again in 202a. the political polarisation in america has certainly not gone away and here is something that you have written. you said that this polarisation is ultimately a national security threat as well as a domestic challenge. in what way should all of us outside the united states see it as a national security threat to the united states? well, again, it is the possibility of external actors interfering and exploiting it and using it for more propaganda to sow more discord, turning it back again on the united states. the other point is that it really undermines our capacity for corrective action. i am speaking out because i got the attention of people on capitol hill who have a choice to make about how far down the this path they want to go. 0rwhether down the this path they want to go. 0r whether they can step up to the plate and try to figure out ways in which we can unify

ourselves again. we just had the 620 ourselves again. we just had the g20 meeting, copd 26, this important climate summit in glasgow and everyone is looking to the united states to lead. 0ur internal discord, our inability to actually pass legislation or to even speak to each other in civil terms also undermines our capacity for taking action on major existential issues that affect everybody. existential issues that affect everybody-— existential issues that affect eve bod. �* , ., everybody. and before we end, fiona, everybody. and before we end, fiona. we _ everybody. and before we end, fiona. we do — everybody. and before we end, fiona, we do not _ everybody. and before we end, fiona, we do not have - everybody. and before we end, fiona, we do not have a - everybody. and before we end, fiona, we do not have a lot - everybody. and before we end, fiona, we do not have a lot of. fiona, we do not have a lot of time, but i want to tap into your expertise as a continued close observer of geopolitics. the biden administration is clearly and centrally preoccupied with what they perceive as a strategic term threat of china didn't they also, it seems, want to give a message to vladimir putin that, look, we don't seek conflict with you, we want to dialogue but we will not accept some of your more egregious actions, particularly when it comes to cyber hacking and ran somewhere and that stuff that the us says

moscow was responsible for. do you think that when track, preoccupation and focus on china, hoping to park russia, will that work? it china, hoping to park russia, will that work?— will that work? it may not. partly because _ will that work? it may not. partly because russians i will that work? it may not. l partly because russians are also very much invested their relationship with china and having a degree of conflict has unfortunately been the united states because putin is now focused on staying in power himself be on 2024 and that will be a real banner year for presidential elections in the us and russia. putin is using confrontation with the united states as a mobilisation factor. domestically saying you need me around because i am the person pushing back against the american states and internationally showing china and everyone else that russia still has what it takes to be a major player on the international stage. you need a little friction and

confrontation and you need with the united states. i think, however, that russia is also interested in coming to terms with the united states on a number of issues. arms control and getting a nuclear deal. they realise they have problems with the pandemic. right now russia has the highest infection rate and mortality rate at any time in the last few years with coronavirus because they have had problems getting their own people vaccinated. and they do know that they have to do something on climate change eventually. so there are a few openings there with russia but it will be very difficult to park them. they do not like to be ignored and they always make sure that we have to pay attention to them. china, as well, will be difficult because we need to basically find a way of moving forward with the same issues on china. the pandemic, vaccinations, climate change. so there will be limits to how much the united states can do in terms of shaping these relationships because we will have to also weigh off some of

the trade—offs and opportunities. the trade-offs and o- ortunities. �* , , opportunities. and, briefly, how much _ opportunities. and, briefly, how much of _ opportunities. and, briefly, how much of a _ opportunities. and, briefly, how much of a problem - opportunities. and, briefly, how much of a problem is l opportunities. and, briefly,| how much of a problem is it that the world looks in and realises that there is a distinct possibility that donald trump could be back in power in 2425? that gets back to your whole point about the national security risk for everyone else because if people are looking for leadership from the united states on a global scale, they know they won't get it if trump returns and that risk, i think, it if trump returns and that risk, ithink, is it if trump returns and that risk, i think, is also causing constraints for biden because biden cannot guarantee either, you know, an outcome that is favourable for his party on the 2020 midterms or guarantee that he can get re—election in 2024. so, again, ithink he can get re—election in 2024. so, again, i think it underscores that point that we are really in something of a crisis. we have to show in the united states that we can get our act together and that week have staying power for the future in terms of our leadership and capacity for domestic action as well as

collective international action. fiona hilli collective international action. fiona hill i wish we had more time but we have run out of time. thank you very much forjoining me on hardtalk. thank you. thank you, stehen, hardtalk. thank you. thank you, stephen. i— hardtalk. thank you. thank you, stephen, i really _ hardtalk. thank you. thank you, stephen, i really appreciate - stephen, i really appreciate it. hello there. it's staying pretty cold now for the rest of this week. there will be quite a bit of sunshine around by day, but it will be chilly at night with frosts and fog in places. now, through the day there will be quite a bit of sunshine in central and southern areas, but also some showers. this mainly affecting coastal areas. got low pressure to the north of the uk, this is where we are seeing the strongest of the winds today and weather fronts enhancing the shower activity. although most of them will be

affecting coastal areas all around the country down into west wales and the southwest, northern parts of northern ireland and much of the eastern side of the country. some of the showers across the northeast, east of england will push into the midlands. so a bit cloudy here, more than we have had the last few days. some of the showers heavy with some hail and thunder mixed in, and they will be wintry over the high ground, particularly across northern scotland with the strongest of the winds. further south the winds will be lighter. it's going to be a chilly day wherever you are, highs of six to eight in the north, nine to 11 further south. through wednesday night it stays quite blustery in the north, further coastal showers and many central areas will turn dry with lengthy clear skies again. winds will be lighter here. but stronger winds across the eastern side of england, more cloud. not quite as cold here as what it will be further west, and across the north we will have some frost and also some patches of fog. now as we move towards thursday into friday we start to see a change to the weather. this area of high pressure begins to build in from the west. it kills off lots of the showers, but what it is also going to do is cut off the arctic air supply as our wind begins to veer more west and southwesterly direction. so that will bring milder air

back to our shores as you can see here from the orange and yellow colours. thursday, then, another cold start with frost and fog around. and then it is bright. plenty of sunshine around, more sunshine around on thursday. still a few showers across the eastern coasts again down into the far southwest. later in the day, thicker cloudy, patchy rain pushing into the northwest of the uk as we start to pick up westerly winds. temperature slowly rising here, otherwise for most again it is a chilly day. as we move out from thursday into friday we start to see an area of high pressure toppling down towards the south of the country, and that will allow this area of low pressure to move in across the north at the start of the weekend. so it will be turning milder towards the end of the week, particularly as we head on into the weekend. low pressure will start to bring wetter and windier weather to northern areas, and will tend to stay drier and brighter the further south and east you are.

this is bbc news. i'm sally bundock with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. at the climate change summit in glasgow, the banking world promises to help cut carbon emissions by rewiring the entire global financial system. the former governor of the bank of england speaks to the bbc about righting off debt to help obtain net—zero. what is needed to get us to 1.5 degrees is companies will have to do notjust say, theoretically, "this is what is going to happen," but actually, "i do have to write off some of those." a setback for president biden as virginia's republican candidate is projected to win the governor's seat. relief in australia as a four—year—old girl, who was taken from a campsite more than two weeks ago,

is found alive and well.