say that comes conservatives say that comes with risks. conservatives say that comes with risk-— conservatives say that comes with risks-_ with risks. there is a pattern of hostile — with risks. there is a pattern of hostile activity _ with risks. there is a pattern of hostile activity by - with risks. there is a pattern of hostile activity by china i of hostile activity by china activated by a so—called united front work department designed to gather intelligence notjust in the uk but around the world. the alleged chinese spy with links to prince andrew is named. yang tengbo said he did nothing wrong and will appeal. we'll find out more about him and in light of what we now know why did the intelligence services take so long to him from the uk? —— to ban him from the uk. also tonight, bashar al—assad said he never intended to flee to russia. and our expert make ek is here for tonight's security brief. —— are expert. good evening. the

alleged chinese spy with alleged chinese spy with alleged links to the duke of york was named after dealings at the court ofjustice. yang tengbo ran a firm called hampton group international here, first arrived in britain in 2002 and studied for a masters in public administration and policy at york university. in 2013 he had been given leave to remain and was setting up an advisory group to help would—be investors. through that consultancy he met at least two macro ministers and by 2021 was attempting to liberate his contact with prince andrew. in november of that year he was stopped on his way into the uk. intelligence services confiscated all of his digital devices from which they glean some concerning messages relating to the prince. and yet not until february 2023 was he finally banned from returning to the uk. today he issued a statement claiming he had done nothing wrong and that the widespread

description of him as a spy was entirely untrue. 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticas reports... the royal and the alleged spy — this is glossy video from the prince himself designed to drum up business. throughout we see yang tengbo — we can now name him — banned from the uk as a risk to national security. mr yang is accused of working for china's communist party, using his ties to build contacts. on his desk, photos — him meeting david cameron and theresa may. dealing with foreign threats was already on the prime minister's agenda. today, here in norway, the immediate issue russia's war against ukraine. but he's been seeking closer ties with china. so, he was asked, what about its activities? of course, we are concerned about the challenge that china poses. our approach, as you know, i had a meeting with the presidentjust a few weeks ago now, our approach is one of engagement, of cooperating where we need to cooperate, particularly, for example, on issues like climate change. to challenge where we must

and where we should. mr yang is appealing his ban from the uk. he asked today for his own anonymity to be lifted, insisting he's an entrepreneur trying to build bridges between east and west. in a statement, he said: "i have done nothing wrong or unlawful. the description of me as a spy is entirely untrue." adding: "i love this country as my second home. i would never do anything to harm the interests of the uk." what the case of yang tengbo and prince andrew has now done is add charge to a political debate here. the government wants to reach out and engage with china. conservatives say that comes with risks. when it comes to a member of the royalfamily, i simply say this, how was it i that somebody who was known to the security forces, was allowed to get so close to a member of the royal family without proper scrutiny, exposing them ? given what we've learned and what we know, these very close relations that the prime minister is apparently attempting may not be wise. and the rather sycophantic tone the prime minister took with president xi at the 620 a few weeks ago may

not be very wise. china offers economic opportunities — keir starmer wants to seize those. but should he be wary of the true cost that might bring? damian grammaticas, bbc news, westminster. in his statement this afternoon, yang claims he has "fallen victim" to a changed political climate in the uk that, he says, has turned less friendly to china. but there has been an in depth intelligence review of material taken from his digital devices, which revealed, as you just heard in damian�*s report, that he was working for the united front work department, an arm of the chinese communist party. it is not known precisely when the duke met yang, but a statement released by andrew said they had met through "official channels". with us tonight luke de

pulford, he is founder and executive director of the inter parliamentary alliance on china which works internationally with parlementarians, to counter chinese threats. thank you very much for being with us. the former conservative leader iain duncan smith said this was just the tip of the iceberg. how many others think there are like yang tengbo working in plain sight? it yang tengbo working in plain siuht? ., , , yang tengbo working in plain siuht? , , ., sight? it has been estimated that the united _ sight? it has been estimated that the united front - sight? it has been estimated that the united front work i that the united front work department which is a sprawling organisation has as has as many as 40,000 people working for it abroad around the world, so if you were to interpret that in the british context we might be talking hundreds, possibly more than that. and what we do know is that from recent reporting the overseas chinese police stations and other categories of station are also united front work department linked organisations, so this is a group which has in the words of the intelligence and security committee report last year "penetrated every sector of the uk economy" and you can't do that with one or two people, so

enough people to be seriously worried about.— worried about. what will concern _ worried about. what will concern people - worried about. what will concern people is - worried about. what will concern people is the i worried about. what will. concern people is the length worried about. what will - concern people is the length of time it took to ban him from the uk knowing what they had gleaned from his devices. so the messages taken in november 2021 were not acted upon until february 2023. how do you explain that, do you think? i think in defence of the intelligence and security services, i would say we haven't had legislation to deal with these kind of inference activities until relatively recently. not until 2022 did we have the national security and investment act which creates at least some mechanisms to be able to deal with china's overseas influence activities, but in my view even that is not enough. that is really recent. if you look at the activities alleged to have been undertaken by yang tengbo, you have activity which is not prima facie illegal. there is no statute that enables us to deal

with that, so for the intelligence and security services or for the police to take action they need to claim to have done something wrong and uncovering the links to the chinese state and those motivations is not a straightforward process, so maybe that is the reason for the delay but of course we would like future cases to be acted on much more swiftly. the mechanism _ acted on much more swiftly. the mechanism of _ acted on much more swiftly. the mechanism of which you speak could be this plan to create a foreign influence registration scheme and the security minster dan jarvis was asked scheme and the security minster danjarvis was asked about scheme and the security minster dan jarvis was asked about that this afternoon. there is a feeling that successive governments actually have stalled on this. why is that the case and what difference would it make? it is the case because successive governments, as you rightly say, and the conservatives should not try to absolve themselves of blame on this, had not wanted to upset beijing and upset the bilateral relationship or take steps they feel are unnecessarily antagonistic and the reason for thatis antagonistic and the reason for that is there is a sort of

dogma within the treasury that unless we hitch our economic wagon to china's we won't be prosperous as a nation, but this is not true, and actually it is a fairly evidence free position when you actually dig into it, but nevertheless it has a lot of influence. i think thatis has a lot of influence. i think that is why we are seeing resistance to what we would call china realism, simply recognising the chinese communist party for what it actually is, for what it is seeking to do in the united kingdom and around the world and to the rules —based order. we are not taking those steps and that should be of profound concern to everybody regardless of which political party you associate with.— of which political party you associate with. had there been associate with. had there been a forei . n associate with. had there been a foreign influence _ a foreign influence registration scheme, and yang tengbo's name was put on that as a matter of course because he was circling within different levels of the establishment and people, presumably politicians, would have to declare that, what difference would it make in this specific case? it difference would it make in

this specific case?- this specific case? it would make due _ this specific case? it would make due diligence - this specific case? it would make due diligence a - this specific case? it would make due diligence a lot . this specific case? it would - make due diligence a lot easier for politicians and certainly for politicians and certainly for royals. they would look at this registration scheme and see whether or not his name was on it, and if it where they wouldn't have associated with him, so it would make that difference. but i think more importantly than that, for those who don't register, and i online here it is highly unlikely members of the united front work department would voluntarily register, that won't happen, but it would enable error security services meant to pursue action against those who refuse to register and for that reason it has to mendis value, i think. mendis value, ithink. right. in mendis value, ithink. right. in terms— mendis value, ithink. right. in terms of— mendis value, ithink. right. in terms of this _ mendis value, ithink. right. in terms of this argument. mendis value, ithink. right. | in terms of this argument that was heard across the dispatch box today about who is being sycophantic to chinese presidents or to the chinese state, why were we still calling this man h6 until this afternoon? why did we not know his identity when seemingly the rest of the world knew who he was and why was he seemingly

given anonymity?— was and why was he seemingly given anonymity? your guess is as aood given anonymity? your guess is as good as _ given anonymity? your guess is as good as mine _ given anonymity? your guess is as good as mine on _ given anonymity? your guess is as good as mine on that - given anonymity? your guess is as good as mine on that one, i l as good as mine on that one, i can't understand it. there are no criminal charges levelled against him and it takes anyone about five minutes to find articles of this guy boasting about his achievements on the chinese internet. he has a number of hagiographic pieces talking about the constellation of stars he has managed to gather around himself so if he was boasting about it and very happy to publish that i can't understand why he would have been granted anonymity, so thankfully that has been lifted now. ~' thankfully that has been lifted now. ~ , ., ., ., thankfully that has been lifted now. ~ , ., ., now. luke de pulford, good to talk to you- — now. luke de pulford, good to talk to you. thank _ now. luke de pulford, good to talk to you. thank you - now. luke de pulford, good to talk to you. thank you for - talk to you. thank you for coming on. talk to you. thank you for coming on-_ the archbishop of york stephen cottrell is facing calls to resign over his handling of a sexual abuse case, days before he takes temporary charge of the church of england. as bishop of chelmsford, mr cottrell let priest david tudor remain in post in the diocese despite knowing he had been barred by the church from being alone with children and had paid compensation to a sexual abuse victim. in a statement stephen cottrell said he was

deeply sorry he hadn't been able to act sooner, and had suspended david tudor from office "at the first opportunity". this report from our religion editor, aleem maqbool: questions over the judgment of stephen cottrell relate to his time as bishop of chelmsford. when he started there he was briefed about a priest in his charge. for decades, david tudor faced allegations of abuse. in the late �*80s he was jailed for six months for the indecent assault of three underage girls. the charges were quashed on a technicality, and eventually he was allowed back to be a vicar in essex. for years many of the women who suffered tudor�*s behaviour as children didn't know that he was a priest again. some, like rachel, are only now

learning that he was operating with the provision that he couldn't be alone with children. so he was a practising minister who wasn't allowed to be alone with children? i don't even know what to say to that! but when he arrived stephen cottrell did know that, and there was more to come. two years later, he found out that david tudor had paid £10,000 to a woman who had come forward to say that he abused her as a child. but then not only did david tudor, under stephen cottrell, remain in post — he was made an honorary canon at chelmsford cathedral. its not good enough. how does that look to the outside world, if you appoint somebody an honorary canon,

the clue is in the title — that is not somebody that should be honoured. eventually in 2019 when another police investigation was opened into david tudor, stephen cottrell did suspend him — nine years after he became bishop. but he said that he acted as soon as he could. "the situation i faced," he said, "was horrible and intolerable. i'm deeply sorry we were not able to take action sooner but that is the situation i inherited". seeing tudor remain in the church so long has had a profound impact on those like debbie, who didn't want to be identified but who was sexually abused by him between the ages of 13 and 15. they endorsed what he did was ok, that playing with people's lives is ok, to take their childhood from them, limit theirfriendships with friends and familiar. carrying the shame for so many years. aleem maqbool reporting and there's plenty more on that story on the bbc website. we

will take a short break. around the world and across the uk, you are watching bbc news.

syria's former president bashar al—assad has issued his first statement since he was deposed just over a week ago, in which says he had never intended to flee to russia. the statement was put on the telegram channel belonging to the syrian presidency although it is not entirely clear who currently controls it or whether he wrote it. 0ur moscow correspondent steve rosenberg reports. where is bashar al—assad ? he hasn't been seen since he fled syria. today, a statement purporting to be from him appeared on the social media accounts of the former syrian president, dateline moscow. it's unclear who controls the accounts and whether assad wrote this: "my departure from syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours

of the battles. i remained in damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of sunday 8th december. at no point during these events did i consider stepping down or seeking refuge." president putin, who met army chiefs today, has reportedly granted assad asylum. but the kremlin leader has said nothing publicly about it. most of this speech was about the war in ukraine — not a word about syria. despite having this naval base in syria, in tartus, and a major airbase, events there seem to have taken moscow by surprise. was russia too distracted by its war in ukraine? if you think that we focussed on ukraine and lost syria, no, we didn't lost syria. we still have bases in syria. but you don't know what the future of those bases will be? of course, and you don't know. for moscow, the issue of the bases is urgent.

a kremlin spokesman said moscow was in contact with what he referred to as "representatives of those forces who now control the situation in syria". it is a dialogue that will decide the fate of russia's military presence there. if russia loses its bases, it will lose its foothold in the eastern mediterranean. president putin had invested heavily in syria. what might the russian elite be thinking about the fall of assad? i think they understand that this is putin's failure. they can't be vocal, they can't say it openly. but this is a precedent, this is an example how the autocratic regime could fail, could fall. as president, bashar al—assad was a regular visitor to moscow. his exact whereabouts now remain a mystery.

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. well, it may be a mystery but it seems he will be well catered for. the financial times reports today that the deposed syrian president airlifted around $250 million in cash to russia between 2018 and 2019 — at a time when syria, under sanctions, was heavily indebted to the kremlin for military support. that reporting adds a deeper layer of intrigue to the syria—russia ties, especially now that assad and his family have chosen moscow for their refuge. there were suspicions the assad family and the inner circle, were using some of those ill gotten gains to buy luxury properties in moscow. meanwhile in south—west syria the israeli's are taking full advantage of

the security vacuum. they swiftly moved into abandoned army positions last week, in an area that stretches past the occupied golan heights, and into a previously demilitarised buffer zone. on sunday the israeli government approved a plan to expand its settlements in the occupied golan heights. there are more than 30 such settlements home to an estimated 20,000 people which are considered illegal under international law. jerome drevon is the senior analyst onjihad and modern conflict at the international crisis group. let's speak to david schenker, senior fellow at the washington institute and former united states assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs. so good to have you on the programme. thank you for coming. easy to assume that russia was being targeted as a haven for the assad regime, given the amount of cash spirited away. given the amount of cash sirited awa . ~ , , spirited away. absolutely. this is one of the _ spirited away. absolutely. this is one of the few _ spirited away. absolutely. this is one of the few places - spirited away. absolutely. this is one of the few places assad | is one of the few places assad had relations, where he was accepted, where he could store his money during all these years, and i think further assads it is a lot more comfortable than north korea. what did you make of the first statement we got from him today? i

statement we got from him toda ? ., , today? i think it is blandishments, i l today? ithink it is- blandishments, ithink it today? ithink it is- blandishments, i think it is justification and it is public relations after what could only be described as an incredibly embarrassing episode, not only for the assad regime and the 15 years in power but also for putin. this is the abandonment of a key ally in the middle east. . , , of a key ally in the middle east. ., , , ., ., ., east. there has been a lot of talk in recent _ east. there has been a lot of talk in recent years - east. there has been a lot of talk in recent years about. talk in recent years about whether sanctions work post sadam hussein, in russia, north korea and iran. is this evidence, do you think, the fact he was paying in cash for services to russia that eventually the army fell because they weren't being paid enough? is that evidence in your mind that actually in this case may be sanctions did work? well, difficult to prove. i think we know the army was demoralised, we know they are a

conscript army, very little reason to be loyal to such a brutal regime that was murdering their fellow countrymen for so many years, but money was tight. part of this is notjust the morale of the army but that something like 80% of the syrian population had fallen below the poverty line, 90% devaluation of the currency. neighbouring lebanon enduring financial collapse and syria unable to retrieve dollars. i think all of these things contributed to the brittleness of the regime. plenty of comment today from president—elect trump about the situation in the middle east. he talks first of all about syria, calling it a turkish takeover, curious phrase given they are a us ally. what do you think he... did you get any clue from him as to his intent

and how much involvement he wants and syria?— wants and syria? yeah, well, the takeover, _ wants and syria? yeah, well, the takeover, the _ wants and syria? yeah, well, the takeover, the turkish - the takeover, the turkish takeover he is referring to, the overwhelming turkish support for the syrian national army which acted as the tip of the steer during the final week orso the steer during the final week or so of the rebellion, highly effective, and put turkey and air do one really in the catbird seat in syria, now sweeping across the north and —— turkey and erdogan. donald trump has said he doesn't really want to be involved. he may defer to erdogan and let erdogan deal with all the problems and isis in syria. we will see how that transpires. but it would appear that europeans want some involvement. we heard from the

head of european affairs, "russia and iran must not be allowed to return to syria", and now we get news the british government is sending £50 million in humanitarian aid to the syrian people. they will not say who that is going to but you would presume, would you not, it is going to the interim government? yes, hts, the us designated _ interim government? yes, hts, the us designated terrorist - the us designated terrorist organisation. i think at the end of the day this is a transitional government. the people of syria are in great need of financial assistance and the international community wants to be involved in one way or the other. i think there are issues of human rights, treatments of minorities, christians, jews, shi'ites, kurds, going forward, i don't

know how it will play out but i can tell you there will be a chance of it ending better if there is a chance of western involvement. at the same time, i think this transitional government will remember that iran, hezbollah and russia helped kill the better part of the 500,000, sunni muslims, so i don't think there will be away for iran to get back in, not a lot going to hezbollah, and it will be difficult for them to keep their bases. brief thou . ht them to keep their bases. brief thought on _ them to keep their bases. brief thought on hamas _ them to keep their bases. brief thought on hamas and - them to keep their bases. brief thought on hamas and gaza, talking about what would happen if the hostages are not relief to if the hostages are not relief t. , , , ., if the hostages are not relief to yes, putting more pressure on the bureaucrats _ to yes, putting more pressure on the bureaucrats in - to yes, putting more pressure on the bureaucrats in tehran, | on the bureaucrats in tehran, but trump wants of these conflicts over by the time he gets into office. that may be aspirational but he seems to be

pushing hard and threatening to get to that point before january 20. get to that point before january 20-_ get to that point before janua 20. �* ., , january 20. always a pleasure to talk to _ january 20. always a pleasure to talk to you. _ january 20. always a pleasure to talk to you. thank - january 20. always a pleasure to talk to you. thank you - january 20. always a pleasure to talk to you. thank you very j to talk to you. thank you very much for coming on the programme, david schenker. the security brief is coming up in the next half hour and we hope you'lljoin us for that. we will take a short break and we will take a short break and we will be right back after this. do with us. —— stay with us. hello there. it's been mostly dry today, but we've had a lot of rainfall the last couple of days across north—west scotland. that's caused some localised flooding issues. for the rest of this week, though, it's going to be quite mixed. it starts mild, we'll see wet and windy weather tuesday and wednesday and then it turns colder for all from thursday onwards. this area of high pressure sitting over france has brought this dry weather, but also allowing us to pick up some milder air from the south—west as you can see from the orange colours

on the airmass chart. now there's the weather front, which has been sitting across north—west scotland, bringing the heavy rain that will start to shift northwards tonight as we pick up southerly winds. that's because we've got low pressure pushing into the west of the uk and across ireland. so that will keep temperatures falling below 7 or 8 degrees in the north and west. but something chilly under the clearer skies when the light winds for the midlands and eastern england. for the midlands however, tomorrow will be a cloudy and an unsettled one. we've got low pressure dominating, it will be breezy, turning windier later in the day with gales around irish sea coast. most of the rain will be in the north and the west, so a little bit drier further east. but wherever you are, i think double figures. tuesday night, wet and windy for many, the rain will be quite fragmented, the winds turning stronger for a while. so we could see gales and there'll be a lot of cloud around, so it'll be a mild one — temperatures no lower than nine to 12 degrees to start wednesday. now wednesday, then we will see improvements to the weather. that's because the low pressure system will start to push into the norwegian sea. we'll see a gap between

the next low that will move across england and wales during wednesday night. so we start off cloudy, windy, outbreaks of rain, it starts to brighten up later in the morning into the afternoon. quite a bit of sunshine around, a few showers in the north and west. then it starts to turn wet and windy again across southern england and wales. with some sunshine we could be up to the mid—teens across eastern areas. now that wet, windy weather spreads across england and wales during wednesday night, by thursday morning it would have cleared away but also clears away the mild air. we open the floodgates to much colder and a stronger north—westerly wind. so a chilly day to come across the board. lots of sunshine around mind you, but there will be a scattering of showers, blustery showers in the north and the west. these will have a wintry element to them over the hills. temperatures five to nine degrees — colder than that when you factor in the wind, and then for friday and the weekend, it does stay on the cool side. fairly unsettled, especially into the weekend with a mixture of sunshine and showers.

hello — i'm christian fraser. hello — i'm christian fraser. you're watching you're watching the context on bbc news... the context on bbc news... the deputy prime minister — the deputy prime minister — angela rayner — has been angela rayner — has been spelling out the goveernment�*s spelling out the goveernment�*s proposals on devolution in the uk. proposals on devolution in the uk. metro mayors in england metro mayors in england will be given new powers will be given new powers to unblock planning delays — to unblock planning delays — and local and district and local and district councils could be merged. councils could be merged.