pakistan. he is making a couple of other stops before he goes back to washington. i hope to get him to come down to the briefing room next week and he can debrief you himself on the current situation. we are obviously aware of the attack today. it is devastating on the one hand, but everything we have seen shows there is progress being made on the ground. the area that the talent that has to operate -- taliban has to operate is shrinking. it would appear that the tide is turning in terms of pakistan the attitudes towards the caliban -- towards the taliban. at the same time, we're obviously recognizing that the current offensive has had an impact on the pakistan

population, something between two and a half million -- 2.5000003 million displaced persons -- 2.5 million and 3 million displaced persons. we're going to continue in a variety of ways to assess that and help the pakistan government in any way we can make sure that we care for these people, some of them are in camps and staying with families and family members. is a very dire situation. we're going to do whatever we can to help. >> heavy managed to find a home at for the leaders -- ouigers? >> the short answer is no. i think this is one of the issues the ambassador is discussing. he is in the pacific.

>> in terms of the portuguese, portugal has been quite involved in trying to resolve the guantanamo bay issue. is this something the president intends to discuss? >> a good,. >> [unintelligible] >> not as far as i know. in terms of the agreement on exchanges of information, we welcome the agreement and think it will be a step towards helping build cooperation of the united states and europe and tried to unwind the situation we find ourselves in. >> i believe he has been in australia. >> what can you tell us about the canadians? >> i did not have any information on that. >> are you planning on building

another center there? >> i just happen to know that is one of the stops on the two were. >> did you have an extradition treaty with portugal right now? >> we have a statement on this. as far as i know, the bilateral starts in 15 minutes. >> are you going to host an africa conference at the end of the month? is this something that secretary clinton would attend? >> this is the g-eight? >> [unintelligible] >> there is a meeting at the end of the month. i am not announcing the secretary's travel, but there will be an important meeting on europe on the situation in afghanistan and pakistan. the secretary will attend.

>> india of united states might be preparing to ease its policy because of the aid to zimbabwe? >> i do not have my book on that, so come back to us. >> we will leave the last couple of minutes for a live news coverage from london. british prime minister gordon brown announced cabinet changes today. we expect to hear more about that on tonight's addition on bbc news night. >> after disasters, is a certainty that monday's election results will pile on the misery for labor. in the past 24 hours, seven ministers has resigned precipitating a hasty reshuffle which appeared to shore up gordon brown's position. caroline dropped a depth charge of her own. her accusation a gordon brown uses women in government as little more than window dressing could prove to be buried and

drink -- damaging. gordon brown learned from his late father to always be honest. yesterday's alexian news is continuing to pour and it -- to pour in. in a general election, the projected share of the votes would put labor at a historic low of 23%. pushed into third place by the liberal democrats. >> this was a 24-hours bracketed by two government resignations, each in their way damaging for the prime minister. caroline fled to resign this evening, angry at how she and other women have been treated. gordon brown is still damaged, but determined prime minister. >> i am not going to walk away.

i will keep doing the job that i set out to do. it is my mission to keep on with the job. >> his chancellors were hit by james's resignation after the polls closing last night. >> what exactly has happened. >> dear gordon, i quit. the immediate impact of james brownell's explosive resignation letter has set this place into siege mode. it is designed to completely remodeled the face of the administration, and in its place, a reshuffle was started at once. alistair darling which was going to be moved, and was kept at the treasury. the man wanted by many labor mp's to replace gordon brown was promoted from health to the vacant home secretary job. he does not appear to want to

take over for gordon brown. >> have you miss your chance? >> this is way past the some of my ambition. the summit of my mission was junior minister. this is fabulous. it is a real honor. >> the defense secretary john hutton also resigned but was cultural oil in his departure. >> lead to show support for our leader and our prime minister at this time. >> the man credited with protecting gordon brown from a cabinet to is lord mendelson, the business secretary. he was rewarded with a beef up apartment in the title of first secretary of state. >> we need to unite behind the prime minister. he is by far, the british -- the biggest figure in british politics. he will lead in economic times

-- i can see the cabin of falling behind the prime minister. >> the prime minister's position was looking more secure as journalists are arrived for a press conference. about 10 minutes and, this happened. >> caroline floods just resigned. she came out and gave you her full support last night. what does that say about your other ministers, are they going to resign now? >> caroline has been a very good minister. >> caroline fudges a very close friend of the former committee -- she has been very harshly treated by the prime minister. >> we understand extreme pressure from downing street. caroline flint given extremely supportive interview. it seemed like she was expecting promotion. her resignation letter was devastating. she wrote, you have a two-tier

government, your inner circle and the remainder of cabinets. she said that several of the women attending cabinet have been treated by u.s. little more than female window dressing. she went on, i am a natural party loyalists. you have strained every sinew of that loyalty. the prime minister have told -- said that he was told by his father to always tell the truth. they came very close to accusing him of lying. >> you said you're going to be candid, you are not being candid. everyone in this room knows that you wanted -- that that is what you wanted to do. all of your closest aides said you wanted to sack the chancellor. at the last minute, you have not been able to do it. >> the fact is, many journalists in the room will tell you that they had received such a briefing from #10 sources that

alistair darling was finished. gordon brown has a reputation for giving somewhat boring press conferences. not this one. this is a very diminished prime minister from the one we saw a few days ago in the commons. he has made it very clear today that if there are still people in his party wanted to quit, they will have to try to drag him out of this building. are any of them still planning to try? >> those plans might be affected by what happened in a local election results. labor lost control of its four remaining councils in england. the first three went to conservatives that took somerset. >> people are learning -- people are yearning for a strong united government that is failing. the alternative is there. dodge the liberal democrats now run liverpool, new castle, sheffield, and now bristol as well. is part of a complete

transformation of city politics in this country from labor to the liberal democrats. that, in my view, is a sign of things to come and increasing switch from labor to liberal democrats across the country as a whole. >> of the reshuffle appears to be over. gordon brown's problems are anything but. >> i am now joined by peter who was promoted back into the cabinet as well secretary and today's reshuffle. >> this was not the reshuffle by gordon brown wanted, was it? >> i do not know. what he has done is renew his cabinet said his government. we now need to move forward and make sure that we get on the real issues that affect people, which is making sure we protect their jobs, making sure we invest in housing, making sure we get mortgages flowing to people. those of the issues that we need to govern effectively on.

>> we also have a prime minister of property. his father told him to be honest. when he was asked whether alistair darling was really always going to be chancellor in this reshuffle, he immediately said yes. we know that is not true. >> but you are focusing, if i may say so, of the westminster bubble of politics. >> we're focusing on truth. >> chancellor darling has faced the toughest challenge with thi global financial crisis. those of the issues. we also are going to point out to people that the tories have got multi-billion cuts planned. it will cut public services if they got their chance to enter number 10. there's a real choice facing the country between labor investing

in the future and taking that agenda forward. the tories are determined cirrose back into the old right- wing policy of cuts. >> are you say to me that a prime minister who takes a press conference and says that he is going to be candid, and this is what he is above all else is honest. he said there is no question as ever removing alistair darling when number 10 -- alistair darling was not wendy considered in the reshuffle. you're saying that does not matter? >> i do not know any of these points. it is my job to make sure that whales -- wales' voices heard. we have not communicated much in the last few months as a whole of the parliamentary expense

scandals and gulf british politics. where putting the right and tackling the big economic agenda. as we sought the g 20 summit, he was brilliantly leading the world in taking the world forward. >> what does it say about the prime minister -- >> i think what it says -- >> tonight, we have the resignation of caroline flint. i spoke with her extensively tonight. she said there was no doubt that women in the cabinet -- they were being used as window dressing. is that how you have seen it? >> one of the most eminent women in british politics has just replaced caroline in a very important job sitting in the cabinet. she expressed loyalty to the prime minister last night, -- >> he did not recognize caroline

flint -- she was saying repeatedly that her opinions weren't seen. she said it was kind of, get back into your box. the whole time that she was your minister, she only attend one cabinet meeting and never did gordon brown seeker opinion on anything -- seek her opinion on anything. >> look at the number of women in the cabinet. >> if you were women -- if your women. -- fewer women. >> we have more women in our cabinet and have had consistently than ever before in british history. i'm sure there'll be even greater numbers in the future. i did not recognize this picture, and i do not think that any of the important and very

singular women in the cabinet to the attorney-general who sits occasionally in the cabinet to the deputy leader, to the pension secretary, they are very senior women in the cabinet. it gordon brown does listen to all of them. she has come as an internationalist to take your agenda forward. >> the facts speak otherwise. in the first cabinet, there were four women running departments. in this cabinet, there is one woman running a big department, working pensions. there's a leader of the house of commons -- >> is an important job. >> there are fewer women running departments then there were in 1997. you cannot seriously say that is good news for women in politics.

>> what i am saying is that we have more women in senior positions in our cabinet now as has been the case for a number of years than ever before in britain's history. we have got to do better in the future, and we will do better in the future. you cannot reduce this argument to is up and who is down at any one particular time. you should ask that women in the cabinet and some of the most senior positions do not agree with caroline's assessment. let's leave it at that. >> one last question that we do want to keep in the program. she made it very clear in her letter that she had been smeared by number 10 and was forced to go out last night and defend gordon brown. she said she was told she would have to do an interview. >> i can't answer tittle tattle. what i'm saying is that we have a very clear agenda.

there is a west mr. bubble arguments which interests you tremendously, and no doubt westminster politics and journalists as well. this government, quite unlike the opposition of david cameron's shallow public relations problems is is actually tackling the real issues of the country. as we break out of this time of terrible crisis for parliamentary democracy and not as the labor party, as we break out of this comically up the system, and go on to tackle the economic crisis, then the country will decide whether they want a tory government under david cameron to slash jobs and to push the kind of crisis we had in the past. are they what a labor government that will really protect people in this country? that will be the choice facing us. >> we have a result of the votes

on the local authority elections and the european elections to give us some sort of framework for that conversation. do stay with us. what chance is there that a plot to d.c. gordon brown could work? -- to e-seat -- de-seat gordon brown could work? >> recent blows have brought considerable cracks within beat gordon brown regime. tonight, the structure still holds together. early this morning, gordon brown was at the mercy of his cabinet. they could have killed him off today. with one, too, or three big names. one by one, they held back from making that fatal blow. nonetheless, gordon brown is considerably weaker tonight with

his senior colleagues, alistair darling, allen johnson, and peter mendelssohn. all now pretty much of stackable. >> i think each cabinet member made their own calculation of what the mood was among labor mp's in general. gordon brown will be toppled when there is a very clear majority around labor mp's. they did not want to have an early general election. james and david made different calculations about that. >> until last autumn, paul sinclair was one of gordon brown's aides. >> i do not think the prime minister have very many options. with those options, he took the right ones. it is not a terribly inspiring cabinet reshuffle, but it is a shift.

i think alistair darling's position has strengthened. that is a bad thing. as the cabinet moves forward, hopefully more collegiate will rain. >> this week showed a big split among the blairites. james quit over gordon brown, but as john hunt resigned today, he surprised many by backing the p.m. there has been one backbone, david miliband's decision not to resign was crucial. he was magnificent the brave to do what he did. it puts him in a strong position. i do not know why we are split in this way. i don't think anything will happen now, that moment has passed. >> i have spoken to a number of blairites who are furious with

david miliband for not following james personnel's lead. -- purnell's lead. >> they should come out and say so. we should have that debate and conversation. they have not been out to galvanize people. at the moment, it looks like he is half cocked. >> what about the e-mail letter calling on gordon brown to quit, the text of which emerged to days ago -- two days ago. they worry that the e-mail system cannot stop bogus signatures. the letter is a few tiles gesture. -- a futile gesture i was told. he was suggested he was willing to become leader. he said that his team had prepared a leadership campaign.

according to another brown credit, all of this contained on the back benches goes nowhere unless there is someone in cabinet prepared to be the standard bearer. there is not anyone willing to do that, i would now seek to the rebels, shut up and let's get on with government. i did not see how can happen now that we end up with a new prime minister. >> i think there will still be two or three difficult days. tomorrow, i think that the election, the fallout from that will run below it. the prime minister has got to address the factions. the labor mps, and number of whom who knows he has joined -- he is joined by a number of peers. the rebels have a decision to make. do they stick with this because there is no other alternative candidate for anybody.

>> cowards fletch and traders sneer says the party of the red flag. most have a flinched. the prime minister lives on considerably wounded to fight another day. gordon brown will lead his party into the next election. some think it might be best for labor to switch leaders on the eve of that election and not now. >> we'll be hearing from michael crackle little later in the program. joining me now is the former labor of minister. here in the studio is richard reeve, a friend of -- director of the think tank. first of all, on the question of resignations, you were there in 1997, the famous picture.

do you have sympathy for caroline flint's position that women in cabinet are treated at but not necessarily respected? >> i would say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. it was quite bewitching watching carol and last night. she was expecting a senior position in cabinet that she did not get. she decided to attack the prime minister. she should have counted to 10 before she wrote that letter. i think she will regret. i think airline has been effective minister. -- i think caroline has been an effective minister. >> you think the position of women, generally, is a very secure and strong one contrary to what harriet harman said today?

>> i think labor has made the difference really. you have to try it wherever possible to get women into senior posts. yet got to make sure they have the right capable women. dr. >> what you make of gordon brown being relatively safe? can hear me? >> yes, i can hear you. when you talk about a rebellion, i think you miss the point. what is important is what the people of britain said at the polls last night. it would appear today that the prime minister is not prepared to listen to what was said last night. i think it will be repeated tomorrow night and monday morning with the european elections.

the people are saying very clearly that they think that this is enough. he has been an out -- a magnificent chancellor. he has not been a very good prime minister. where he has greeted -- created economic stability, we have enormous political instability. the time has come for him to stand down. that is what was said at the polls last night. it is not a question of a rebellion or putting him down, he ought to go with dignity and have the grace to stand down and let somebody who can get stability back into the system go on to the general election. >> i think the pathetic little plot has failed miserably. we may have a weekend of madness, but on monday, let's get back on the job of running the country. gordon brown is the best person to lead us out of this recession.

he has proved that so far. the rest of the world recognize that. he got a standing ovation from the leaders of the g-20. i have to say, ordinary labor party led members are absolutely furious of the gross disloyalty of these individuals. this is not the labor party. workers have worked hard, and they are appalled that the actions of these individuals. >> what you think about this warfare of labour ministers? has it affected a cabinet reshuffle? it was not desired by the prime minister, and has it affected -- >> loyalty is a political virtue. the question is, loyal to what? james said he was loyal to the labor party and the ideals of the labor party. in the end, that trump his

loyalty to the prime minister. you have to stay in the cabinet even if you think it is led by somebody to is not the right leader to demonstrate your loyalty. actually, i think one of the things that james has done is to tell the truth. not to brief, just to stay in black and white and say this is what i think. politicians do it off the record, they do not speak the truth. at least he has come clean. >> are you disappointed that david miliband didn't follow suit? >> a think there is a view that james had created a space for other people in the cabinet, if they felt that now's the time to signal to the country that is crying out for leadership -- if you do not think gordon brown is that leader in your in the cabinet, is now the moment -- >>