sir freebie accepting gifts with sir freebie accepting gifts and tickets worth more than £107,000. what do you make of that walkie talkie warfare .7 that walkie talkie warfare? >> israel has declared a new phase of war after it has accused of being behind a second wave of remote controlled explosions in lebanon . explosions in lebanon. >> well, there you go. another month. well, actually, they went down last month, didn't they? but for the first time in four years, marginally. and now held held at 5%, this at a time when just yesterday, the united states federal reserve cut their interest rates by, by nought point 5%, i mean, a considerable cut, a cut that was at the upper

end of expectations , 50 basis end of expectations, 50 basis points in the uk. >> zero, some might say, is the federal reserve in the united states being more pro—growth than our cautious bank of england. >> we are awfully cautious in this country when it comes to cutting these rates, at least at the moment, i suppose they'll say that there are still inflationary pressures in some areas. i suppose they'll say that gas prices are on their way up ahead of the winter months, which may impact that. i mean, what else is there? >> well, i suppose there's the bumper pay packets that have been given not just to sue gray, but also to train drivers and doctors and all public sector workers . so those pay pressures workers. so those pay pressures might well have gone into keeping these rates higher. that might have been part. we're going to have a look at the full explanation that the bank has put out and talk to a very senior economist a little bit later in the programme, but i think just looking at the face of this decision, there'll be a lot of people very disappointed.

this is what the market expected, but there'll be lots of people thinking, hang on, if america is going for growth, why on earth is our bank holding us back? >> but then a lot of people say they were artificially low and that actually this could be the new normal. who knows? but yes, we are speaking to a very intelligent, very expert economist very soon to see what he has to say. gbnews.com/yoursay get in touch. perhaps it's a good thing for you if you're a saver. anyway but next it's the headlines . but next it's the headlines. >> emily, thank you very much and good afternoon. the top stories, some breaking news. as you have just heard, the bank of england has held the interest rate at 5% even before figures released yesterday showed inflation had remained unchanged inflation had remained unchanged in august . markets inflation had remained unchanged in august. markets had inflation had remained unchanged in august . markets had expected in august. markets had expected this last month. the central bank cut the base rate for the first time in four years. now the interest rates will now stay at this level for at least another month , with the next another month, with the next review due on the 7th of november. in other news, it's

been revealed that keir starmer has received more freebies than any other mp since 2019, totalling around £100,000. a cabinet minister has defended the prime minister, saying he's in a pressured job and should be allowed to enjoy gifts and hospitality if it's declared correctly. this comes after it was revealed the prime minister's chief of staff, sue gray reportedly takes home a salary of £170,000. that's 3000 more than the prime minister and greater than any conservative predecessor. the business secretary says ministers have no political input in the pay of their advisers, as he defended sir keir starmer amid criticisms of his chief of staff salary . of his chief of staff salary. business and trade secretary jonathan reynolds says restrictions on uk arms exports to israel are fair and proportionate . the uk suspended proportionate. the uk suspended some arms export licences to israel earlier this month over concerns the countries violating international humanitarian law international humanitarian law in gaza. fears have intensified that the conflict between israel

and lebanon could escalate after and lebanon could escalate after a second wave of attacks in beirut yesterday . lebanese beirut yesterday. lebanese terrorist group hezbollah have accused israel of being responsible for the co—ordinated attacks, which saw a wave of walkie talkie and pager explosions across lebanon. the idf says they're not responsible. it's understood 20 people were killed yesterday, while 12, including two children, lost their lives in the blasts on tuesday. that's as nearly 3000 remain in hospital, with 200 in a critical condition . with 200 in a critical condition. a woman who alleges she was raped by her former employer, mohamed al—fayed, the egyptian billionaire who owned harrods for more than 25 years, says she's still petrified of someone that's no longer alive. five women have told the bbc that they were raped by the former harrods boss when they worked at the luxury london department

store. the bbc has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex—employees, who say the billionaire , who died last year billionaire, who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them, including rape. the documentary and podcast i fired predator at harrods gathered evidence that during its ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene but helped cover up abuse allegations. harrods current owner said they were utterly appalled by the allegations and said his victims had been failed, for which the store sincerely apologised . store sincerely apologised. former royal correspondent charles rea spoke to gb news this morning. >> he has always been a controversial character, you know, from the cash for questions row way back in the 90s and he was accused of sexual assault in round about 2009, which was never proven. and now we've got these allegations now these are far, far more serious allegations than the than the previous ones. people will stop going to the store. but that's why i think harrods have moved so quickly this morning to say,

look , we are the new owners. we look, we are the new owners. we are a different harrods. we would never have covered anything up like this, they accept the i think they accepted that there was a cover up and it shouldn't have happened and have offered apologies to all the victims involved . victims involved. >> the national pharmacy association will hold a ballot for members next week on whether to take industrial action for the very first time, if the vote passes, pharmacies could open for fewer hours or potentially provide reduced services. that's as the association calls for an additional £1.3 billion in funding across pharmacies in england , a health watchdog has england, a health watchdog has warned. failings in nhs maternity wards are more widespread than previously thought. a review conducted by the care quality commission rated almost half of services as inadequate or requiring improvement. only 4% were classed as outstanding, 48% rated as good. the body, which

inspects and regulates health providers in england has called for urgent action to avoid poor care and preventable harm becoming normalised . now. news becoming normalised. now. news this hour a man has pleaded not guilty to owning or being in charge of two xl bully dogs, which killed a woman. 40 year old ashley warren appeared in court today where he denied two charges relating to the dogs, named in court papers as beauty and bear , which killed 68 year and bear, which killed 68 year old esther martin in jaywick in essex early in february. this yeah essex early in february. this year. we'll have more on this story as we get it . and a story as we get it. and a thunderstorm warning has been issued for large parts of england and wales over the next two days, bringing the threat of frequent lightning and large hail. the first met office warning, which is in effect from now until 8:00 tomorrow evening, stretches from the west midlands to the south east and includes the south—west. it also covers the south—west. it also covers the western part of wales , the western part of wales, including cardiff and swansea. the agency says lightning strikes during the storms could cause damage to buildings . and

cause damage to buildings. and those are the latest gb news headunes those are the latest gb news headlines for now i'm tatiana sanchez. i'll be back with more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it is nine minutes past midday now. in the last few minutes, the bank of england has voted to hold interest rates at 5%. this result was expected . economists result was expected. economists and investors bet on a rate cut and investors bet on a rate cut a little bit later in november instead, but still a bit of a blow to many people looking to invest . invest. >> apparently, there was a 10% chance that perhaps there would be a surprise cut a 10% chance. but alas , no. for mortgage

but alas, no. for mortgage holders and the like, those interest rates are staying put. but this, of course, comes a day after it was revealed that inflation had remained at 2.2% last month. now that is just above the bank's target of 2%. now. inflation does differ depending on what goods you're talking about, what service you're talking about. i think in particular, airfares have been increasing quite rapidly. there's quite a lot of inflation going on there, but we're going to be talking to an expert in a little bit about this. who i imagine believes the bank of england is being a little too cautious here. >> well, this is all in the context of the united states federal reserve voting to cut rates not just by 25 basis points, but by 50 basis points. just yesterday . that's a pretty just yesterday. that's a pretty extraordinary move. the upper end of what people were expecting. many american commentators thinking that that's a pro—growth thing, that that's a pro—growth thing, that that's going to make the american economy go gangbusters. and yet and yet by eight votes to one, our bank of england over

on this side of the atlantic, has decided to hold rates . only has decided to hold rates. only one dissenting vote. not much diversity of opinion, not much diversity of opinion, not much diversity of opinion, not much diversity of opinion. >> however, i will say a lot of you getting in touch saying actually, you think the bank of england is quite right to keep rates at 5%. gary calls that a very normal rate. he says inflation is far worse than slightly higher borrowing. sharon says great for us savers. lucia says she saw you on the bbc. very mature, but yes, lots of you. immature or mature? mature, mature. you were very mature. >> checking. >> checking. >> just checking. yes. and you didn't allow anyone to interrupt you.so didn't allow anyone to interrupt you. so there you go. he lets me interrupt every now and again . interrupt every now and again. it's true, it's true. but yes, keep your views coming in, because i know this is something that divides, you know, 5% in historical terms. isn't that high. but it's interesting when you've got the united states dropping them at this very moment, the us doesn't have it doesn't have inflation down at 2% either. >> i mean, we're all it's got inflation down. we've got

inflation down. we've got inflation down. we've got inflation down just bubbling along i just find it very hard to understand why the monetary policy committee is being so overly cautious , especially when overly cautious, especially when we know we've got a budget that's going to be raising taxes and attempting to reduce expenditure as well. if you've got fiscal consolidation from the chancellor, there's a bit of leeway from the bank of england to be looser with rates. >> yeah, maybe you're right . >> yeah, maybe you're right. well it is now 1211 and we're going to turn our attention to sir keir starmer because his chief of staff, sue gray, she's taking home a salary of £170,000. now that turns out to be 3000 more than the prime minister. >> but don't worry, sir keir starmer isn't left with a hole in his pocket. since 2019, he's received more freebies than any other member of parliament. yes, totalling over £100,000. >> there's 107. should we take a little look at a graphic we drew up a little earlier, which shows just who the top offenders in

westminster westminster are. so there we have freebies. the worst offenders. sir keir starmer, way out in front. he's winning this race 107 odd thousand pounds. next is the house of commons leader, lucy powell, who's got about 40,000. so if you see just that massive jump so if you see just that massive jump there , it's almost like jump there, it's almost like he's in a completely different league. >> and let's not forget this was since 2019, the 2019 to 2024 parliament had a large conservative majority. so it's pretty odd to actually see so few conservatives here. and the biggest offenders being labour party mps, despite there being fewer than 200 labour mps. of the two of the 300 of the 650 in parliament. >> yeah, it's a big number. so there you go. those are the top worst offenders. i think that's the top ten you've got there for freebies. we're going to bring in olivia utley, our political correspondent who's been looking at this story for us as well. i mean, there is a lot of anger that the prime minister has been

receiving so many, so many freebies that he is so far ahead of the rest of the pack so far ahead of the rest of the pack. >> there are questions, of course, around how much does this really matter if the prime minister is getting free suits, free football tickets, etc? the reason why it might start actually mattering and i say actually mattering and i say actually mattering and i say actually mattering as opposed to sort of not smelling right, looking a bit dodgy is because these football tickets, which he's been receiving, and these actually make up quite a large part of the £107,000 that he's received in freebies that could be seen as the premier league trying to lobby the prime minister. because the decision over whether to have a football regulator is being actively considered by the government at the moment, the premier league does not want there to be a football regulator. they are lobbying hard for that. you could argue that keir starmer, in accepting that, could be seen to be influencing them, or even if he isn't being influenced by that at all. people who disagree with the decision that he makes in the end could say, well, hang

on a minute, you accepted £6,000 in football tickets and now you've gone on the side of the premier league, and that decision could be muddied . the decision could be muddied. the waters could be muddied around it a little bit. so this is actually worse than just perhaps not smelling right. there is a tangible reason why this could be said at some point in the future to really matter. >> that is stark because of course, it does hark back to some of the same criticisms of tony blair first getting into office in 1997. you have all sorts of donations, scandals, not least bernie ecclestone and formula one at a time when there was going to be a new restriction on gambling advertising. i mean, this was a significant scandal for the for the same party, you know, 25 years ago. it's strange that there seem to be walking into there seem to be walking into the same trap all over again. >> it does. and talking of walking into traps, we mentioned there a little bit sue gray salary. that's £170,000. £3,000 more than the prime minister. what i find so interesting about this and so bizarre really, is

that sue gray was given advice to take just a little bit less than the prime minister in order to avoid this very story. and obviously, you know, when you're when you're in that higher tax bracket, the difference of £4,000 will make very, very little difference to to her the actual money that she will receive in her pocket. so why did she walk into this trap and choose to take that little bit more and get herself into this situation? is there a problem, perhaps with her political judgement? because also the very fact that she is now earning more than the prime minister, and that this has become a big story, has really put the backs up of other spads. some of these spads, they were actually earning more when they were in opposition than now they're in government . yes. and they don't government. yes. and they don't feel happy at all. and you can see a similar situation arising. you talk about history repeating itself with tony blair. you can imagine history repeating itself with the dominic cummings boris johnson situation, where dominic cummings became so powerful. all of the other spads started to resent him. the mood in downing street was obviously incredibly

fractious and arguably in a large part, that's what brought down the prime minister our keir starmer and sue gray heading for a similar fate . a similar fate. >> i mean, for keir starmer, i think of course, if there is any lobbying going on from the premier league, then of course thatis premier league, then of course that is a conflict of interest and that is not, well, it's pretty terrible, awful against the rules, but , for me, it's the the rules, but, for me, it's the sort of the look of a champagne socialist, isn't it? he likes to enjoy things that he can't actually afford for himself. how? hanging. hanging out, hanging out in lord alys £18 million penthouse in number 10 dunng million penthouse in number 10 during the number 10 campaign. it's where he went to watch the exit polls with aides in this covent garden property. he's got his spectacles and his suits from the sky. his his wife is, well, clearly not loaded enough to afford all these sorts of special trips and things. >> register of interest shows over £100,000 in capital gains alone , on top of his 100. alone, on top of his 100. >> and when it's just scrounging, then just just add a bit of balance for the for the

stormers. >> i mean, you could argue that in america, for example, presidents would be gifted things like this all the time and it wouldn't be seen as as fishy at all. and the culture there is sort of that they want their president to be looking their president to be looking their absolute best on the international stage . and this is international stage. and this is all about sort of soft power. and it is important that the prime minister, that was david lammy, defence. i mean, how that extends to put football tickets, i'm not quite sure. i think that raises another question. no, no , raises another question. no, no, no, i do take your point. >> i do take your point. but when he is so far ahead of the others, it's rather striking. thank you very much. olivia utley. our political correspondent with us in the studio. >> well, let's get some more now from the times chief political correspondent aubrey allegretti, because, aubrey, there's another story here, isn't there, between not just how much sue gray is paid, but actually who is leaking these stories? what is this fractious war behind the glossy front door of number 10? there appear to be two camps,

two rival camps vying for power, vying for the prime minister's ear . ear. >> yeah, certainly. it is very interesting to sort of unpick who exactly is behind these briefings and leaks. and the cabinet secretary, simon case has come under fire from some their senior ministers who suspect and have told me that they think that he is behind some of the recent leaks to destabilise sue gray. now the cabinet office and simon case completely deny and refute that . completely deny and refute that. but obviously there is a huge amount of bad blood and it doesn't serve the country well for there to be dysfunction at such a senior level in government. >> what do you make of the commentary that seems to suggest that it's actually sue gray, who's running the show ? who's running the show? >> well, i mean, she is the prime minister's chief of staff, so she is probably fairly entitled to sort of run the show . entitled to sort of run the show. the prime minister obviously acts as somebody who makes quite high level strategic decisions. and so sue grey's job really is

to do the sort of more minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day stuff. but she is , of course, stuff. but she is, of course, also the chief spad. she is a special adviser herself. and so there's been so much criticism of her because she is part of this pay body which decides other special advisers pay aubrey, the suggestion is that she from people who say the suggestion is, though, that she has more power than previous chief of staff in that position have had previously. >> isn't it ? >> isn't it? >> isn't it? >> isn't it? >> i mean, it's hard to say. different chiefs of staff have different approaches to the job, and certainly the connection or comparison was drawn with dominic cummings earlier. she is somebody certainly who understands the way whitehall works and so might be a lot more savvy in terms of being able to consolidate that power. so it probably isn't a surprise that she does have such a tight grip on things in number 10. what i think is more surprising is the way in which she's managed to rub people up the wrong way so

quickly. >> it is interesting because you're right to say people, it's not just simon case. there appears to be a huge battle there. of course , former civil there. of course, former civil service colleagues, both of them were. but also with morgan mcsweeney, the man who masterminded the successful election strategy for keir starmer. many people describing the starmer project as actually the starmer project as actually the mcsweeney project. according to all sorts of briefings, morgan mcsweeney's desk has been moved iteratively, further and further away from keir starmer's office and there's a big row for influence between mcsweeney and sue gray, as well . sue gray, as well. >> yeah, and the sort of tension at the heart of that really is what labour does over the next five years, because on the one hand, you have sue gray, whose primary focus is on the government and on delivery , and government and on delivery, and morgan mcsweeney's, who is on what labour's offer to the electorate is in five years. and there will be naturally, and it's probably quite healthy for there to be some tension between

those two things. the government wants to get on with doing the things that it wants, and the party wants to try and sort of, you know, make sure that it's being done in the right way and with the right messaging. and so that at the end of those five years, if, say, not everything has been delivered, that it doesn't feel as though it did in 2024, after boris johnson's election win in 2019, where some voters felt like they were sort of promised the earth, and despite huge public spending and some reforms by the former prime minister, actually voters didn't really sort of feel better off at the end of it. so this is about a sort of tension between about a sort of tension between a five and a ten year election process. pi'ocess. >> process. >> okay. well, thank you very much indeed. aubrey allegretti, the times's chief political correspondent. thank you. i think the how this comes across to the public is that keir starmer is milking the system while taking away benefits and pensioners, simple as that, really, isn't it for a lot of people? >> yeah, i think that's that's precisely the message that gets across. the wiring behind that message is equally fascinating. the reason that we know what sue grey's salary is, is because

there was a leak. and the reason there was a leak. and the reason there was a leak. and the reason there was a leak is because there's trouble in paradise in downing street. i mean, all of these people are at each other's necks , and that can't make for necks, and that can't make for good government. >> yes, we're finding out a little bit more about what it's like in number 10. i'm sure we'll be finding out more and more as the days and weeks go on. we've got lots more coming up on today's show. we are going to be speaking to that expert economist about that interest rate. holac the decision by the bank of england not to drop those interest rates, but to stick at 5%. that's

next. >> good afternoon britain. it's 12:26 now. the shadow chancellor , 12:26 now. the shadow chancellor, jeremy hunt, has commented on this interest rate hold from the bank of england. he says last

month , thanks to difficult month, thanks to difficult decisions by the last government, the bank of england cut interest rates for the first time in four years. today's announcement shows how important it is that the new government works hard to hold down inflation, which will pave the way for future interest rates cuts. >> he goes on to say new employment laws that put up costs for business will ultimately feed through into higher prices, so they should think again before damaging uk competitiveness as they currently plan to. >> super interesting. the shadow chancellor is pointing to the cuts that happened last month. he says thanks to his policies and the hold that happens now, he's implying thanks to the policies of the new government. is that fair? >> well, to react to the news is economist and daily telegraph columnist roger bootle. roger, thank you very much indeed. interesting what jeremy hunt had to say there, that it was under the conservatives and thanks to their hard work, that interest rates were cut last month. but but not now. is that a fair assessment that this is labour's

choice, essentially? >> well, surprise , surprise, >> well, surprise, surprise, he's a politician isn't he? and this is a very political judgement. i don't think, frankly, it stands up . however, frankly, it stands up. however, he is pointing to an important substantive issue, which is that some of labour's measures or proposed measures are pointing in the direction of higher inflation, which obviously don't want they want lower inflation and they want that lead to lower interest rates. so i think he's right to fire this warning shot. but the idea that, today's hold is solely due to or mainly due to what labour has done is, i think frankly, for the birds . think frankly, for the birds. >> yeah. roger, what we saw just yesterday in the united states, where there's been a huge amount of spending and there has been above target inflation, was a pretty substantial interest rate cut of 50 basis points. why is the united states cutting rates while the uk is holding them? >> well, this isn't that unusual. >> the conventional wisdom is that all central banks pretty much move together. it's not

true. it's true that the broad sweep of interest rate movements is shared in common by most of the leading central banks. and after all, we have cut before it, albeit by only a quarter of a point. i think really, this is pretty small beer. the us has shown pretty clear signs of slowing inflation has fallen fast there. i think we'll find that the uk will probably join in before too long, but the governor of the bank of england made it pretty clear in what he said that the bank is going to proceed slowly and cautiously. i think that's right. >> you think that's right? so you support this decision. were you support this decision. were you surprised to read that it was 8 to 1, that there wasn't much diversity of opinion? >> i wasn't too surprised. i mean, i wrote in my column the other day that i didn't think the fact that the inflation rate stuck at 2.2 would hold them back from cutting interest rates, if that's what they thought was right. what's more worrying is the core inflation picture. and underlying all that, of course, what's happening to wage inflation, if we're going to get inflation,

price inflation sustainably to down something like about 2%, then we've got to have average earnings growing at not much more than three, the most for. well we're nowhere near that. and of course recently there have been some very high profile high wage settlements, junior doctors and also the train drivers. that doesn't point, i'm afraid, in a favourable direction. so the bank is going to be watching these figures in particular wage inflation and core inflation. now if those come down convincingly and the economy is slowed to being a bit weak, then it will carry on cutting and it could cut rates, i think, all the way to 3%. but that's not in the bag. and i think these recent pay settlements should make one a bit more cautious. >> that is interesting because that does give some more credence to what the shadow chancellor, jeremy hunt, was saying in his statement that we read out at the top of this interview the idea that actually there are political choices that have been made, that are being made , that will be decided on in made, that will be decided on in the coming weeks and months that

can materially affect this . and can materially affect this. and you're pointing to some of these inflation busting public sector pay inflation busting public sector pay deals as actually something that might have impacted this decision. >> well, no, as i said at the beginning, i didn't think those things had an effect on this and didn't make inflation stay at 2.2. but as i said , there is 2.2. but as i said, there is something in what jeremy hunt has referred to because these some of the measures that have been taken in the pay awards have been given and proposals that are coming forward, do point in the direction of higher inflation. and i suspect the new government are paying off its debts to its supporters. newly installed hasn't quite recognised the extent to which its actions potentially threaten inflation and therefore threaten the prospect of interest rates coming down. i think they've got a bit of learning to do. >> interesting. roger. just very lastly , so when do you expect lastly, so when do you expect interest rates to come down next? will it be a few months from now? do you do you imagine? >> well, i don't know. these

things are highly uncertain. we'll have to see what happens to the numbers. but i think it's a pretty good chance that they'll come down once before christmas, possibly in the november meeting , possibly a bit november meeting, possibly a bit later. but i don't think there's going to be the downward rush that market traders were looking for just a few months ago. >> well, that's a bit of a sobering answer to end on, but roger bootle , really appreciate roger bootle, really appreciate your time this afternoon. thank your time this afternoon. thank you so much forjoining us and talking through what we've seen. this afternoon. >> yes, very interesting indeed. so roger there, saying it probably is a sensible decision to hold off. now. it will be interesting to see how much those public sector pay deals do impact the economy. i know wages in the rest of the economy have been going upwards, so it's not as though, you know, wages everywhere else are going down, not quite by 22% though, not quite by 22%, but how many doctors are there? yeah. how many doctors are there? is that enough to actually impact things across the board in terms of inflation? i don't know, i don't know, but it perhaps it pushes

up a little bit perhaps. >> yeah. it's the wider decision of the nearer 5% pay increase anyway . we're going to be anyway. we're going to be getting to much more on good afternoon britain this afternoon. coming up, these walkie talkie bomb attacks across lebanon. what on earth has been going on? is israel behind these sort of super spy james bond style attacks? and what impact will it have on the wider region? that after your latest news headlines . latest news headlines. >> tom, thank you and good afternoon. the top stories. while the bank of england has left interest rates unchanged at 5% but said it could reduce borrowing costs gradually over time if inflation stays low. eight of the nine members on the bank's monetary policy committee voted to keep the uk base rate unchanged. the decision to pause comes a month after the central

bank cut rates from 5.25%, instigating the first reduction since 2020 and delivering good news to borrowers facing higher costs. five women have told the bbc that they were raped by the former harrods boss when they worked at the luxury london department store. the bbc's her testimony from more than 20 female ex—employees, who say mohamed al fayed, the billionaire who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them, including rape. the documentary and podcast al fayed predator at harrods gathered evidence that during its ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene but helped cover up abuse allegations. harrods current owners said they were utterly appalled by the allegations, and said his victims had been failed, for which the store sincerely apologised . it's been revealed apologised. it's been revealed that sir keir starmer has received more freebies than any other mp since 2019, totalling around £100,000. a cabinet

minister has defended the prime minister, saying he's in a pressure job and should be allowed to enjoy gifts and hospitality. if it's declared correctly. this comes after it was revealed the prime minister's chief of staff, sue gray, reportedly takes home a salary of £170,000. that's 3000 more than the prime minister and greater than any conservative predecessor. the business secretary says ministers have no political input in the pay of their advisers, as he defended sir keir starmer amid criticisms of his chief of staff salary . of his chief of staff salary. and a health watchdog has warned failings in nhs maternity wards are more widespread than previously thought. a review conducted by the care quality commission rated almost half of services inadequate or requiring improvement. only 4% were classed as outstanding and 48% were rated as good. health minister baroness moran says the findings are shocking. >> women definitely deserve better and we are committed to

looking at all of the recommendations within this report. we are also ensuring that those maternity trusts who need to do better are identified early on and are getting support to improve , and we are also to improve, and we are also going to be recruiting thousands more midwives , some of them more midwives, some of them being trained from new. but i also would appeal to midwives who've left the nhs. >> those are the latest gb news headlines. for now i'm tatiana sanchez, more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts

>> good afternoon britain . it is >> good afternoon britain. it is now 1239. now we have a gb news exclusive to bring you. david lammy he's been blasted as callous and ignorant after saying that azerbaijan had been able to liberate territory in its conflict with armenia, which is seen by many as a war of ethnic cleansing. okay so is this a mess up from our foreign secretary, from our top diplomats, no less? >> well, our national reporter, charlie peters, has been speaking with diplomatic sources. and charlie , what on sources. and charlie, what on earth is the reaction to this? this statement from our foreign secretary? >> well, let's go to the statement first. david lammy publishes a blog on substack called progressive realism. and a few days ago, he uploaded his most recent thoughts on there in reaction to his return from a joint visit with the us secretary of state, antony blinken, in ukraine. and within it he was speaking about how various states had moved away

from the influence of moscow. he wrote about it in the context also of azerbaijan. he wrote that azerbaijan has liberated some of the territory it has lost since the 1990s, but the conflict that its regained territory in and has captured lots of ground is the nagorno—karabakh conflict it's had with armenia , launched had with armenia, launched primarily in the most recent uprising of tensions in 2020. this was a particularly bloody and gruesome conflict. there were all sorts of human rights abuses captured elderly men were beheaded by azerbaijani forces as they stormed into ethnically armenian areas. and i've been told this morning by armenian representatives in london that they are urgently seeking clarification from the foreign office as to what david lammy meant when he wrote liberated about that move. and i've also heard from an influential law professor in the united states

who has, as you said, emily described his comments as callous and ignorant. we heard from mark morrison, who is the whitney professor and director of the centre for law and religion at saint john's university law school in new york. he said that he was shocked by david lammy's comments. he said the foreign secretary's reference to azerbaijan's liberation of the region is shockingly callous and ignorant. in fact , exactly a ignorant. in fact, exactly a year ago, baku, the capital of azerbaijan, ethnically cleansed the region of its 120,000 christian armenian inhabitants in violation of an order from the international court of justice. he went on to say this new york based law professor lammy seems to think that azerbaijan, like ukraine, is trying to free itself of russian domination, but in fact azerbaijan and russia are strategic partners, and baku carried out this ethnic cleansing, he says of the

karabakh region with russian support. so david lammy is, as we know, a foreign secretary under quite a lot of pressure at the moment. in just the first two months in his role as britain's chief diplomat, as tom rightly describes him, as in particular under a lot of criticism and pressure from israel after this government's decision to withdraw some arms licences. now we've got this fresh reaction from those who are experts in the armenia azerbaijan conflict, saying that he's been callous and ignorant in a remark that's not yet been described or explained by the foreign office. i've contacted i've contacted them this morning seeking clarification, but also armenian officials in london urgently trying to do the same. >> charlie, there are there are three things here really, aren't there? there's number one, the foreign secretary appearing to whether he understands or not. the conflict put his foot in a delicate area of international relations . delicate area of international relations. number delicate area of international relations . number two, relations. number two,

apparently moonlighting from his job as foreign secretary to write a substack blog, a blog for those who don't know where he collects email subscriptions. i believe in a private capacity, not writing anything on the government official website, but his own private substack. doing that as the foreign secretary seems a very odd thing to do for a senior government minister. but also he seems to be just putting his foot in a lot of different pies. he was talking about climate change yesterday. he's been going around the world. he's been trying to cosy up to the americans , trying to up to the americans, trying to cosy up to the trump team and the democrats as well. i mean, is he just spreading himself too thin here? >> i hope you will join me as i work to reconnect britain with the world. that's how david lammy signed off this debut blog post in his progressive realism substack. in the paragraph before that, he says he wants to use this substack as an offer to

apply insight on his visits around the world. he can't promise, he says, to write after every single one. the pace is too great, but it seems like potentially the pace has already been too great. on his first post, where he's writing about, as you say, tom very delicate diplomatic situations sparking what i understand to be great fury within some diplomatic sources in london. in reaction to his comments, i wonder if sir keir starmer will say david, david, perhaps we'll we'll close down that substack account, you know, don't want to risk anything like this again. >> but a couple of weeks ago we were asking the question whether david lammy, as foreign secretary was out of his depth. do you think he has the historical knowledge, the foreign affairs knowledge for such a job? it's so to easy get things completely wrong. >> would he hired a journalist who wrote very effectively and extensively on foreign policy last year, as a close political adviser, i imagine, to bolster his understanding of world and foreign affairs quite urgently

ahead of what everyone anticipated would be a labour landslide and a return to power for his party. but already we are seeing, i think, quite a few cracks in lammy's control of the foreign policy brief and already quite a lot of international criticism of britain's official position on some issues. i should also stress that with this i think very controversial use of language liberated being used to describe azerbaijan's illegal offensive of ethnically armenian territory, which has led to many people fleeing, hundreds of thousands fleeing that area. being denied access to food, water and humanitarian supplies. it also stands, as you might expect , in contrast with might expect, in contrast with the official government position, which last year a senior ambassador to the osce slammed that move and said it was completely unacceptable for azerbaijan to use violence . azerbaijan to use violence. violence is never the answer, is what neil holland, the ambassador to that organisation, said. but lammy is today it

seems, describing it as a liberation. >> well do let us know if he issues some kind of statement or apology or correction or something of the like. or perhaps he'll just let it let it go. i don't know what a mess up a charlie peters. thank you very much. our national reporter bringing us that exclusive. >> well, this is good afternoon britain on gb news. lots more coming up on today's programme. not least a bit of royal news. yes. prince william is up in aberdeen today. we'll be there explaining why

>> good afternoon britain. it is now 1250 and the prince of wales is celebrating his new partnership with the nation's leading energy provider, blue light card, in a bid to tackle

homelessness. >> yes, it's estimated that 52% of the 60,000 people thought to be working within the sector are struggling to pay their bills. >> okay, well, joining us now live from aberdeen is tv news royal correspondent cameron wahaca cameron. tell us more . wahaca cameron. tell us more. >> good afternoon emily. well prince william's motorcade has just shot down this street here because he's currently in shelter scotland's offices, where he's learning about how they are trying to prevent young people from becoming homeless in the first place. and that is before he comes here to this church opposite where he's going to be talking about this new partnership between homewards, his five year projects, trying to demonstrate that it is possible to end homelessness within five years, making it rare, brief and unrepeated. and as you say, this blue light card. now here's some irony for you . 44% of the estimated 60,000 you. 44% of the estimated 60,000 homelessness workers in the united kingdom are struggling with housing costs themselves , with housing costs themselves, and prince william and homewards

is wanting to tackle that by giving them this financial support. with this discount card, which currently supports armed forces members , members armed forces members, members who work for the nhs and social care as well. but it's now going to be extended to homeless sector workers because of this new, because of this new partnership with homewards. and it's homewards who specifically directly reached out to this blue light card, which has so far since its infancy, has saved £330 million worth of savings to members who are kind of part of this. and i understand that prince william has been involved in this partnership from its infancy, and what he really wants to do is kind of acknowledge the what he describes as the essential services that these people offer. and he's in aberdeen, as i said, and he will be celebrating this new partnership with those who are involved in in supporting homelessness, people homeless people here in aberdeen. and i spoke to some residents of aberdeen a little earlier, and this is what they had to say. >> i think he does a great job,

i really do, and he puts himself about he doesn't have to. he's nice with people . he's, i, nice with people. he's, i, i think the future's in good hands. >> i just feel that our flats and places, it's just all run down and they've never bothered to renovate them or anything. and i mean, i'm sure some of the homeless people and that could get something, a roof over their head. you know . head. you know. >> now aberdeen is one of six homewards flagship locations which will form a blueprint. prince william hopes to then scale up and expand to other towns and cities across the united kingdom of how homelessness can be ended. he also wants to change the perceptions around homelessness, breaking down stigmas , stigmas breaking down stigmas, stigmas and raising awareness of so—called hidden homelessness, such as sofa surfing. >> well, thank you very much indeed. >> well, thank you very much indeed . cameron walker, live indeed. cameron walker, live from aberdeen. our royal correspondent there as prince william makes his trip very beautiful town, aberdeen it is. i know it well. i know it well.

well it's quite grey there i do, but well they're out in the out in the sticks in the beautiful . in the sticks in the beautiful. are you a royal countryside. yeah. >> aberdeenshire. isn't that balmoral. >> no, not in balmoral . no >> no, not in balmoral. no they're not in balmoral. but it is absolutely stunningly beautiful. i mean the weather is dreadful. but then, to be fair, it's been dreadful down here as well. yeah, but very beautiful scenery. >> no. absolutely. >> no. absolutely. >> well i worry though about the, the impact of, cutting down on all this oil. north sea activity. yes. >> the entire economy there, isn't it? it's you know, a massive boon for the town. and now and now , not so much. now and now, not so much. >> now, after the break, we're going to be to talking stephen edgington, our reporter out in washington. though it's not about what's going on in washington . it's about his new washington. it's about his new documentary on immigration, the impact it's having on the country, people's views towards it, and much, much more. we're also going to be checking in with dougie beattie in ireland, because it seems like there are some anti—immigration protests that may well erupt that next. >> a brighter outlook with boxt

solar, sponsors of weather on gb news . news. >> time for your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. another fine day for the vast majority today it is a bit drab across parts of the east and it is quite breezy across the south as well. we do have high pressure , just about have high pressure, just about still in control, but low pressure is edging up from the south. that is going to change things for tomorrow. it's also squeezing the isobars together. that's why it's quite breezy across southern england. quite a lot of cloud over east wales and the midlands to start with. that's going to break up a little bit, but parts of lincolnshire down into the east midlands, north norfolk may stay fairly drab until quite late in the day. a bit of mist elsewhere on eastern coast, but for most it's a fine, sunny september day. quite warm as well. temperatures up to maybe 25 in the capital, perhaps even a little higher. most places in the sunshine over 20 celsius. through this evening, we'll continue to have the fine conditions, but we'll continue

to have a bit of a breeze blowing across the south, and this cloud will start to push back inland across these eastern counties of england. so for some here it will stay grey all day. a bit of haar on the east coast of scotland, but northern ireland and much of the rest of scotland dry, fine and sunny . scotland dry, fine and sunny. well into the evening. we are going to start to see a change through the night and more particularly tomorrow. the cloud is going to thicken up across these eastern areas and actually get thick enough, maybe to produce a little bit of drizzle here and there, especially on the coasts and hills . it will be the coasts and hills. it will be another pretty mild night where it stays cloudy, but with clear skies across western scotland. northern ireland temperatures are likely to dip down into single digits. but in the south we'll hold up in the teens. tomorrow is a similar start. in fact, it's going to be a grey start for most. some drizzle over the pennines and on the coast of north—east england, southeast scotland. then it brightens up, but then, particularly from late morning onwards, the likelihood of some heavy showers across the south may even catch some afternoon

thunderstorms. they could provide some big downpours across the south by the end of tomorrow, but again further north, many places in the west fine and sunny. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> good afternoon britain. it's 1:00 on thursday the 19th of september. i'm emily carver and i'm tom harwood immigration perception. the uk public overestimates overestimates how many asylum seekers impact levels of immigration, how much those asylum seekers impact those asylum seekers impact those levels of immigration. that's according to new findings from the immigration attitudes tracker by british future. an ipsos will have an exclusive for you. >> sir keir scrounger, the prime minister, has been given more

freebies than any mp since the 2019 general election , with sir 2019 general election, with sir freebie accepting gifts and tickets worth more than £107,000 and walkie talkie warfare. >> israel has declared a new phase of war after it was accused of being behind a second wave of remote controlled explosions in lebanon . explosions in lebanon. >> free gear. keir, sir keir sponger sir keir scrounger that's the pick your poison. it's clear that our prime minister who campaigned in the general election on being cleaner than clean, whiter than white, mr rules himself. well, all of these donations may well have been within the rules, but certainly they are more than any other member of parliament, over

£100,000 of them. >> yeah . i £100,000 of them. >> yeah. i think sir keir scrounger rolls off the tongue the best for me, but his wife's in on the act too, isn't she flaunting her new wardrobe that's been supplied by this, or at least paid for a personal shopper to or from this particular labour donor? they also hang out at his £18 million penthouse in covent garden, having a rather nice time in the run up to the election , what do run up to the election, what do you make of it all at home, is it as simple as he's milking the system while taking away some benefits from from pensioners? the elderly, is this does this smack of corruption? would you go as far as to say it does? do you think, lord alli, for example, wants something in return? do you think the premier league wants something in return for allowing him? well for gifting him hospitality at the arsenal football stadium ? what's arsenal football stadium? what's all that about? or should he just be sticking his hand in his own pocket, frankly, or at a

time when he's cutting benefits to people in this country, to pensioners in this country, at a time when he's looking to be raising taxes as well, when we're hurtling towards what some may describe as austerity, 2.0, isn't there a duty for us all to be in this together ? be in this together? >> why should the most senior politicians in the land be living the high life, while the rest of us have to tighten our belts? is it just a simple matter of one rule for the most senior politicians , and a senior politicians, and a different rule for everyone else? >> or is it in my view, just classic champagne socialism? there you go. let us know your thoughts. gbnews.com. forward slash your say. but let's get the headlines with tatiana . the headlines with tatiana. >> emily thank you and good afternoon. the top stories this houn afternoon. the top stories this hour. gb news has been told that lots of women have contacted the harrods survivors helpline since

new allegations of sexual assault and rape came to light, five women have told the bbc that they were raped by the former harrods boss, mohamed al fayed, when they worked at the luxury london department store. the bbc has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex—employees, who say the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them, including rape. the documentary and podcast al fayed predator at harrods gathered evidence that during fayed's ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene, but helped cover up abuse allegations. harrods current owner said they were utterly appalled by the allegations and said victims had been failed, for which the store sincerely apologised. former royal correspondent charles rea spoke to gb news this morning. >> he has always been a controversial character, you know, from the cash for questions row way back in the 90s, and he was accused of sexual assault in round about 2009, which was never proven.

and now we've got these allegations . now, these are far, allegations. now, these are far, far more serious allegations than the than the previous ones. people will stop going to the store. but that's why i think harrods have moved so quickly this morning to say, look , we this morning to say, look, we are we are the new owners. we are we are the new owners. we are a different harrods. we would never have covered anything up like this, they accept the i think they accepted that there was a cover up and it shouldn't have happened and have offered apologies to all the victims involved. >> in other news, the bank of england has left interest rates unchanged at 5% but said it could reduce borrowing costs gradually over time if inflation stays low. eight of the nine members on the bank's monetary policy committee voted to keep the uk base rate unchanged. the decision to pause comes a month after the central bank cut rates from 5.25%, instigating the first reduction since 2020 and delivering good to news borrowers facing higher costs .

borrowers facing higher costs. it's been revealed that sir keir starmer has received more freebies than any other mp since 2019, totalling around £100,000. a cabinet minister has defended the prime minister, saying he's in a pressure job and should be allowed to enjoy gifts and hospitality if it's declared correctly. this comes after it was also revealed the prime minister's chief of staff, sue gray, reportedly takes home a salary of £170,000. that's 3000 more than the prime minister and greater than any conservative predecessor. the business secretary says ministers have no political input in the pay of their advisers, as he defended sir keir starmer amid criticisms of his chief of salary staff . of his chief of salary staff. business and trade secretary jonathan reynolds says restrictions on uk arms exports to israel are fair and proportionate. the uk suspended some arms export licences to israel earlier this month over concerns the country is violating international humanitarian law in gaza. fears have intensified that the

conflict between israel and lebanon could escalate after a second wave of attacks in beirut yesterday . lebanese terrorist yesterday. lebanese terrorist group hezbollah have accused israel of being responsible for the co—ordinated attacks, which saw a wave of walkie talkie and pager explosions across lebanon. the idf says they are not responsible. it's understood 20 people were killed yesterday, while 12, including two children, lost their lives in the blast on tuesday. that's as nearly 3000 remain in hospital, with 200 in a critical condition . with 200 in a critical condition. the national pharmacy association will hold a ballot for members next week on whether to take industrial action for the first time ever, if the vote passes. pharmacies could open for fewer hours or potentially provide reduced services. that's as the association calls for an additional £1.3 billion in funding across pharmacies in

england . a health watchdog has england. a health watchdog has warned failings in nhs maternity wards are more widespread than previously thought. a review conducted by the care quality commission rated almost half of services as inadequate or requiring improvement. only 4% were classed as outstanding, 48% rated as good. health minister baroness merron says the findings are shocking . findings are shocking. >> women definitely deserve better and we are committed to looking at all of the recommendations within this report. we are also ensuring that those maternity trusts who need to do better are identified early on and are getting support to improve, and we are also going to be recruiting thousands more midwives, some of them being trained from new. but i also would appeal to midwives who've left the nhs and a

thunderstorm warning has been issued for large parts of england and wales over the next two days, bringing the threat of frequent lightning and large hail. >> the first met office warning is in effect now until 8:00 tomorrow evening, stretching from the west midlands to the south east, and includes the southwest. it also covers the western part of wales, including cardiff and swansea, and the agency says lightning strikes dunng agency says lightning strikes during the storms could also cause damage to buildings . and cause damage to buildings. and those are the latest gb news headunes those are the latest gb news headlines for now i'm tatiana sanchez. more from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts .

forward slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it's 1:09. now here's an interesting one for you. the public in the uk overestimates how much of the migration pie is made up of asylum seekers. >> yes. so that's according to new findings from the immigration attitudes tracker by british future and ipsos. so on average, people believe asylum seekers make up more than 30% of total immigration when actually it makes up around 7%. okay, what are we supposed to take from that, then, tom? >> well, the legal migration is pretty high as well. yeah, well, pubuc pretty high as well. yeah, well, public perception on immigration is the basis of a new gb news documentary, immigration. >> the truth, from our reporter, steve edgington. it explores the impact of immigration on british communities , featuring communities, featuring interviews in leicester and a town that voted for a reform party mp, great yarmouth. >> you think there should be more immigration or less ? more immigration or less? >> less. >> less. >> you should stop it by not putting all these people into hotels when we've got our own people struggling, living on the

streets, it's absolutely disgraceful. >> i've been homeless for a lot of years now. how you get treated as a british citizen, you know, someone in need. i've beenin you know, someone in need. i've been in there crying and i've openly admitted, you know that. and i have pleading for help. you're not a priority. >> are you proud to be british? >> are you proud to be british? >> yeah. i'm ever so proud. >> yeah. i'm ever so proud. >> are you proud to be british? yeah. >> used to be. >> used to be. >> we have communities that are highly segregated, which are being reshaped along sectarian lines and which are going through a pace of cultural demographic change that is completely reshaping the cultural norms. >> i mean, there are communities in england that basically don't look like england anymore. and i think that's where the loss of the familiar for many people becomes so existential . becomes so existential. >> well, joining us now is our reporter behind this new documentary , steven edgington. documentary, steven edgington. steven, what's the biggest thing

you learned producing this new documentary ? documentary? >> i think i learned that attitudes towards immigration are very emotive on both sides . are very emotive on both sides. >> you have the pro—immigration side. we went to leicester, britain's least white city. i think around 41, 41% of people in leicester, according to the census, are white. and people there were very, very much insistent that diversity was a good thing. leicester was a great place to live. it was multicultural. there are great aspects to it, but of course we did interview some people in leicester who felt completely the opposite. they felt that their town had been in some ways ruined by, you know, mass immigration, the sort of pressure on infrastructure and schools and also the cultural impact of that has been immense. two years ago, we saw race riots in leicester between different communities over a cricket match. and i think that goes to show that perhaps this idea that leicester is this multicultural, heaven, this great example of

diversity as has been pushed by many on the left for 20 years, it's not quite the rosy image that they portray it to be. and on the other hand, we went to great yarmouth and we interviewed people there and the attitudes towards immigration was pretty much all the same . was pretty much all the same. people were incredibly angry. they felt betrayed over this issue. when politicians have been telling them for years, for decades that immigration would be cut, the exact opposite had happened. be cut, the exact opposite had happened . and i think that's happened. and i think that's partly why that town was one of the five constituencies that voted for a reform party mp. this is one of the poorest places in the country, and even there you can see many, many immigrants walking around great yarmouth. it was quite an interesting surprise to me. i thought that that was, you know, immigration hadn't really touched the town, but particularly because of the small boats crisis there hosting various migrant hotels. so even people in great yarmouth were experienced, experiencing

migration in a way that you'd expect people in london or other major cities to do so. >> i mean, stephen, you hear a lot from people who are in favour of a liberal immigration system. that if you live in a diverse area, you're going to be far more comfortable with high levels of immigration and you're going to be pro—immigration. and it's actually the people who live in the more white british areas that are actually concerned about immigration. and therefore it doesn't really make sense that as long as you live in a multicultural area, you will accept high levels of immigration. did that stand up? >> i think that is generally the case, but it's not always the case. and, you know, if you have an area that's that's mostly white, that doesn't mean they've got no immigration or they don't experience immigration by travelling out of the area that they live. perhaps they went to london and, you know, they saw the east end of london. and, you know, this is one of the people we interviewed in great yarmouth, for example, she had a really strong cockney accent . i

really strong cockney accent. i was a bit surprised because you thought, you know, this is very far up north, why is someone speaking like that? and she was telling me that she moved out of the east end like many, many people, and, you know, she moved to great yarmouth, but others have moved to essex and that area has now been totally transformed. and those people have been replaced by immigrants. and she wasn't happy about that. she felt that her home area had been completely changed, you know, for the worse. she felt that the cockney kind of history is very long and proud. and now that has been totally transformed and in some ways destroyed by mass immigration. so no, i don't think, you know, this isn't just about the fact that people live in white areas. perhaps those people have moved out of areas that are now incredibly ethnically diverse. so to say that they're ignorant of the issues of migration. i think is totally wrong. i think it paints people, you know, as ignorant where there isn't ignorance. and i think that's, you know, that's

the kind of liberal attitude towards people who don't like immigration is these people must be bigoted , ignorant or racist be bigoted, ignorant or racist in some way. >> and just finally , stephen, >> and just finally, stephen, did you look at the issue of integration? because it's clear that in this country there are some almost ghettoised communities that where people don't learn the language, don't integrate into a sense of britishness. but there are also some pretty stunning examples, probably some of the best examples in the world of integration. i mean, we've had our first non—white prime minister. i could point to cabinet ministers who come from migrant backgrounds, who, of course, have integrated in the best way that most people should . best way that most people should. there seems to be, in some ways, a duality that is going on in this country. >> we certainly did look into integration. one of the issues that we studied was the fact that we studied was the fact that leicester, this town that we went to or the city elected a pro gaza muslim independent mp and this idea of sectarianism in

british politics is fairly novel. so have these people really integrated if they're more interested in gaza, in a foreign war in the middle east, in, in terms of the general election as a, as a priority than they are in terms of british priorities, british domestic policy. so i think that is an issue of integration. i also asked ethnic minority people, immigrants in leicester , people, immigrants in leicester, whether they felt proud to be british. you could see it in that clip there. and many of them did say they felt proud to be british. some of the reasons were slightly bizarre. one woman said she was proud to be british because she got free healthcare and free sort of schooling for her children. i think that's quite a weird reason to be proud to be british and perhaps that goes to show that, you know, some people are coming to the country to take advantage of our very generous institutions, our very generous institutions, our very generous institutions, our very generous welfare state. and i think that goes to some anxiety towards , you know, from

anxiety towards, you know, from reform voters and from people who are against immigration, that people are just coming here to take advantage of the system, take advantage of the taxpayer on the other hand, of course, many others were saying, you know, i am proud to be british. i love britain, this is my home, you know, i've made it my home and i've worked really hard and l, and i've worked really hard and i, you know, and it's worked out really well. so there are certainly lots of different you know, nuances to this. >> okay. and stephen, you can watch this documentary on, on our website. can't you. >> that's right. you can go to gb news. com you can watch the documentary for free, you just have to sign up and you can watch it today . watch it today. >> great. thank you. stephen edgington, gb news reporter in washington at the moment. but he's made this documentary very much in the united kingdom, it's interesting, isn't it? i just think if successive governments had just been more sensible, more controlled about immigration levels, there wouldn't be all of these tensions. there wouldn't be all these worries. you wouldn't have people so angry. but alas, you can't turn back time, can you? >> no , no. it's interesting to

>> no, no. it's interesting to note that denmark is one of these countries that has been more controlled, particularly on asylum policy, and it doesn't have a radical right party in its parliament. it doesn't have the same sort of phenomenon that we've seen in france and in germany and in sweden, and lots of other the netherlands, lots of other the netherlands, lots of other the netherlands, lots of other countries in europe , of other countries in europe, because the people haven't had to worry about that issue. the social democrat government has been cracking down on it in a way that might be reminiscent of giorgia meloni in italy, and it seems to have sort of limited the rise of the radical right in that country. >> well, we're going to turn our attention to sir keir starmer's chief of staff, sue gray, because she takes home a salary of £170,000. now that's interesting, not just because it's a lot of money, but because it's a lot of money, but because it's 3000 more than the prime minister himself. >> but don't worry, keir starmer isn't left with a hole in his pocket since 2019. he's received more freebies than any other member of parliament, totalling over £100,000, and he seemed to

indicate that he will continue to do so, continue to take the freebies, have his hand out anyway. >> gb news political correspondent olivia utley joins us now. there's been a bit of a tally done, hasn't there, of who's taken the most in freebies, and keir starmer is very much, well ahead. >> he absolutely is. he's received £107,000 worth in freebies. the next in line is lucy powell, the leader of the commons, on £40,000. so keir starmer has received more than twice as much as the mp who has received the second most. and he's received as much as the next five mps put together. that just shows the scale of the problem should i call it a problem? well, some people are saying it doesn't really matter. it's all sort of confected outrage about nothing. all of these expenses have been declared. there's nothing underhand going on. but there are a few reasons why you could argue that it really does matter. one of them, of course, is that keir starmer is a is on the on the left of the political spectrum. and you could argue

that this is sort of champagne socialism at its worst. saying one thing for one people, but having a different rule for himself, perhaps more importantly, there is this potential issue over a conflict of interest, specifically in terms of those football tickets which he's been receiving, which make up quite a big chunk of that £107,000 figure. now, those gifts from the premier league and at the moment, gifts from the premier league and at the moment , there is and at the moment, there is a decision that is active in government over whether we should have a football regulator. the premier league is arguing vociferously that there should be no football regulator lobbying the government for that , lobbying the government for that, and there could be an argument later down the line if keir starmer sides with the premier league and doesn't , ultimately league and doesn't, ultimately there is no football regulator, then it could be said that the prime minister has been influenced by getting those tickets. essentially, premier league was sort of bribing him . league was sort of bribing him. now it's unlikely, obviously, that keir starmer would actually be prepared to, you know, take money from the premier league in order to give them what they

want in terms of lobbying. but it's the optics of it. if any, of keir starmer's detractors are able to throw that grenade at him, then that could be a real problem for him. and it does raise questions about his political judgement. >> it certainly does. when this was a man who spent the entire election campaign, indeed, the majority of his leadership of the opposition suggesting that the opposition suggesting that the look of the government was perhaps the most important thing, suggesting that he would clean up politics. he doesn't seem to be abiding by the very high standard. >> he set others well, absolutely. and there's this sort of issue of transparency. and that was something which rishi sunak raised in the last pmqs, asking the labour government to publish their risk assessment of that controversial decision they've taken to remove the fuel, fuel allowance for pensioners who aren't on pension credit. and again, there was this issue of transparency, this issue of hypocrisy . and i think issue of hypocrisy. and i think this story, this . keir starmer

this story, this. keir starmer receiving his freebie story. it sounds relatively minor, but i don't think it's going to go away anytime soon. we have that budget on october the 30th. keir starmer and rachel reeves have very much laid the ground for a very, very unpopular budget. they're going to do things that people really don't like, people we think are probably going to feel poorer, at least in the short term after that budget. now contrast that with keir starmer receiving £107,000 worth of freebies in the last few years. as you say, tom, if it's all about optics as keir starmer has said it is, it's not a very good look. but also this is since 2019. >> so this was when he was in opposition and talking about how nasty the conservatives are in terms of, you know, not helping those on lower incomes and punishing people of, of lower socioeconomic status and all of that. and then there he is in the meantime, taking everything he can in gifts. goodness me. imagine he was probably offered more than that. he had to choose pick and choose football. yes.

taylor swift yes , clearly very picky. >> £107,000. olivia utley, thank you so much for bringing us all of that. this is good afternoon britain on gb news. lots more coming up in today's programme, including more on this extraordinary story that charlie peters, our national reporter, has been telling us about. the foreign secretary putting his foot in it, going against his own diplomatic position. he's been writing his own little blog. what on earth is going on with david lammy that after this

good afternoon britain. it is 1:27 now. the foreign secretary has been blasted as callous and ignorant after saying that azerbaijan had been able to

liberate territory in its conflict with armenia, which is seen by some as a war of ethnic cleansing. >> yes. and this is not the only diplomatic row engulfing the labour government. sir keir starmer there has been labelled misguided by israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, over the decision to ban some arms sales to israel. yes netanyahu has accused the government of undermining israel. and this all comes as israel. and this all comes as israel begins what it calls a new phase in its war with iran backed terrorists following a second wave of booby trapped device attacks in lebanon. >> word that booby trapped. well, our national reporter, charlie peters, has been speaking with diplomatic sources. firstly, charlie , about sources. firstly, charlie, about this david lammy row. sources. firstly, charlie, about this david lammy row . what's the story? >> well, he wrote a blog post on his new substack. in fact, his first ever blog post on it's called progressive realism. in it, he said he wanted to bring some insight to the visits he makes around the world to keep britain aware of how it's working to reconnect with the

world. that's his language. however, after this most recent visit to ukraine with us secretary of state antony blinken, including his language on how other states are moving away from russia, it's not just ukraine doing this, he said. that azerbaijan had been able to liberate territory it's lost since the 1990s. very controversial use of the term liberate there because for many people in the world, many international observers, ngos andindeed international observers, ngos and indeed the official position of the british government as a bazaar. of the british government as a bazaar . azerbaijan's actions in bazaar. azerbaijan's actions in the recent conflict in central asia has been very bad indeed. one of our ambassadors, neil holland, who has been the representative for the united kingdom of the organisation for security and cooperation in europe, last year slammed azerbaijan's decision to commence a military operation in the region after a lull in violence. he said violence is never the answer. they launched

an attack on the self—declared breakaway state of artsakh. many people were displaced as a consequence of that. over 120,000 people were moved away in a move that was described by many as ethnic cleansing . many as ethnic cleansing. >> and charlie. this was to according some, a move that was backed by the russians. so, so in in david lammy trying to say that look at all of these wonderful independence movements getting land back from russia. he accidentally cited a piece of land that russia had invaded effectively mark movsisyan, who's a law professor in new york, said that lammy's comments were shockingly callous and ignorant. >> and as you say, tom, he said that that conflict and the recent uprise in violence, that ethnic cleansing, as he's described it, was actually evidence of azerbaijan's links to russia. he said . lammy seems to russia. he said. lammy seems to russia. he said. lammy seems to think that azerbaijan, like ukraine, is trying to free itself from moscow. in fact, the

two countries are strategic partners and azerbaijan carried out the ethnic cleansing of karabakh with russian acquiescence. i've also, in the last half hour, had some further reaction from a yerevan based journalist who was formerly posted to that region, anoush gevorgyan, who told me that she was stunned by lammy's liberation narrative. she said one year ago, azerbaijan completed the ethnic and religious cleansing in nagorno—karabakh after months of blockades blocking humanitarian aid, food, water supplies coming to in that region and then launching a final armed attack on the area, she said they also destroyed the cultural heritage of the space, thus erasing armenian traces from the land. now david lammy has described azerbaijan taking land as a liberation. in that blog post, which will put him under significant pressure with armenian diplomatic sources telling me today they are scrambling to get an explanation from the foreign office as to what he meant. the foreign

office have been contacted for comment but have yet to get back to me. >> i mean, it's rather worrying that our foreign secretary decides to post on his own private blog post, which obviously is for everyone to read, and it's his first post on this new website, and he manages to stick his foot in it quite so deep, what does this tell us about our foreign secretary? is he out of his depth? charlie the labour government's already under a lot of pressure for foreign policy issues. >> as you've just mentioned, netanyahu speaking to the daily mail today in an exclusive interview with natalie lisbona, a jerusalem based journalist , a jerusalem based journalist, she said in her coverage that netanyahu thinks that britain has abandoned israel in its time of need. he points towards recent decisions by the foreign office to scrap some of its arms deals with israel, and he also pointed to anti—semitism in the united kingdom. so at a time when the labour government is on the back foot on a foreign policy issue, getting a lot of

criticism from israel, it's not going to be helpful. they're also now facing urgent demands for clarification from armenia. >> i think shut down that substack . i reckon that's substack. i reckon that's probably the answer. it's just baffling. >> if you're the foreign secretary, why are you running a private blog? that's not hosted by a government website that's collecting email signatures of those who sign up to it? i mean, why are you moonlighting as a blogger if you're the foreign secretary, why are you commenting on things you clearly know very little about? >> anyway, this is good afternoon britain on gb news. we've got lots more coming up on today's show, a shocking 1 in 10 brits are now on benefits for their health. more on that after their health. more on that after the . news. the. news. >> good afternoon. the top stories. gb news has been told that lots of women have contacted the harrods survivors helpline since new allegations of sexual assault and rape have come to light. five women have

told the bbc that they were raped by the former harrods boss, mohamed al fayed , when boss, mohamed al fayed, when they worked at the luxury london department store, the bbc has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex—employees, who say the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them, including rape. the documentary and podcast al fayed predator at harrods gathered evidence that during fayed's ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene, but helped cover up abuse allegations. harrods current owner said they were utterly appalled by the allegations and said his victims had been failed, for which the store sincerely apologised . the store sincerely apologised. the bank of england has left interest rates unchanged at 5%, but said it could reduce borrowing costs gradually over time if inflation stays low. eight of the nine members on the bank's monetary policy committee voted to keep the uk base rate unchanged. the decision to pause comes a month after the central bank cut rates from 5.25%, instigating the first reduction since 2020 and delivering good

news to borrowers facing higher costs . and a health watchdog has costs. and a health watchdog has warned failings in nhs maternity wards are more widespread than previously thought. a review conducted by the care quality commission rated almost half of services as inadequate or requiring improvement. only 4% were classed as outstanding, 48% were classed as outstanding, 48% were rated as good. health minister baroness merron says the findings are shocking. >> in definitely deserve better and we are committed to looking at all of the recommendations within this report. we are also ensuring that those maternity trusts who need to do better are identified early on and are getting support to improve, and we are also going to be recruiting thousands more midwives, some of them being trained from new. but i also would appeal to midwives who've

left the nhs and those are the latest gb news headlines. >> for now i'm tatiana sanchez. more from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com forward

>> good afternoon britain. it is rigigoodi% increase by the rigigood afternoon; by the rigigood afternoon britain. it is now 139 and the number of people >> good afternoon britain. it is now 139 and the number of people claiming disability benefits in claiming disability benefits in the uk is soaring. the uk is soaring. >> yes, a new report from the >> yes, a new report from the institute for fiscal studies. institute for fiscal studies. well, that data shows that under well, that data shows that under under 4 million people, just under 4 4 million people, just under 4 million people are claiming million people are claiming these benefits. now with a 150% these benefits. now with a 150% increase. yes. you heard that increase. yes. you heard that right. 150% increase by the right. 150% increase by the

under seconds. claiming disability benefits in the past four years. >> wow. now that is a stark statistic. there's also been a sharp rise in the number of benefit applications on mental health grounds. this is where it's really growing. mental health claims. >> well , joining us now is >> well, joining us now is simeon lee, a researcher at the taxpayers alliance. because simeon, this this is a pretty stark reality. we had a government for the last few years saying they wanted to clamp down on benefits, but actually we've seen a massive spike . spike. >> well, thank you for having me. >> you're absolutely right that there's been a massive increase in the number of people on disability benefits. so if you look at the number of new claimants , that's people claimants, that's people starting disability claims. that number has actually doubled from about 250,000 before the pandemic to about 500,000 now. and that's a massive increase. and that's a massive increase. and that's a massive increase. and that's just new claimants. and that's just new claimants. and once they start claiming disability benefits, they tend to stay on it for quite a long time. and so if you look at the number of people still on disability benefits, health related benefits, five years

after they start their claim, 70% of them are still on those benefits, and that imposes a massive cost for the country. and it's something that the pubuc and it's something that the public finances at this current moment simply cannot afford . moment simply cannot afford. and, disability benefits. >> it's quite a broad term, isn't it? it's a bit of a catch all these days. you can have disability benefits for things like adhd . like adhd. >> well, you're absolutely right that a lot of this increase has been fuelled by an increase in the number of new claimants claiming these benefits for mental health conditions. so if you look at the statistics, about 40% of new claims have to do with mental health. that's up from about 28% before the pandemic, and a lot of this is because these conditions, these mental health conditions would not have been considered medical

actually help them. could actually help them. >> i mean, how do we fix keep me out of a depression every day? i try and keep me out of depression. >> how is it fixed, simeon? >> how is it fixed, simeon? >> well, one thing that we can do is to start. means testing some of these benefits. if you look at disability benefits, that's actually not means tested compared to incapacity benefits, which are that means that someone on a high income, for example, can claim disability benefits. and that's something that should not be happening. in fact, that's something that doesn't happen in other countries. but it does happen here in the uk. another thing we have to do is start clamping down on fraud. so disability benefits and incapacity benefits are actually less stringently policed than joblessness benefits, which has led to an increase in fraud . the increase in fraud. the department for work and pensions actually recently pointed out that it loses about £6 billion a year because of fraud, and that's only set to increase by about 5% per year over the next five years. so one thing we. so those are two things we can do to look at fraud. and as well look at, how we can start means

testing some of these benefits fraud and means testing some things for politicians to have a look at. >> simeon lee, thank you very much for joining >> simeon lee, thank you very much forjoining us. researcher at the taxpayers alliance. >> it's quite it. i thought this was a pager going off. that would be dangerous. no, no , the would be dangerous. no, no, the some of these apologies if you can hear some incessant beeping in the studio right now, someone is someone, actually, someone is trying to find their airpods . trying to find their airpods. >> previous presenter on this channel has left their airpods left, has left their wireless headphones , their airpods, and headphones, their airpods, and they're obviously trying to find them and it's sending lots of beeps out in the show . beeps out in the show. >> so it's causing me stress. >> so it's causing me stress. >> so it's causing me stress. >> so bev turner if you're listening, you know, it might not be bev, it could be andrew pierce. it could be it could be someone be early or miriam cates. it could be either of it could be any of them. so anyone who's sat at this desk earlier today just text us instead. >> just just drop us a message. just drop us a message. but some of these stats are shocking. so to go back to the substance of

what we were just talking about, more than a third of all claims are for mental health conditions, up from 28% pre—pandemic, it's not a good state of affairs , really, is it? state of affairs, really, is it? >> i don't believe that there really are this many mental health conditions in the country that are require benefits, that mean people literally cannot work. i just don't believe it. >> yeah, i think a lot of people don't believe it, perhaps it's getting easier and easier. >> oh, i've just been told someone's coming in a sheepish, a sheepish presenter of this. 0h, a sheepish presenter of this. oh, it's charlie peters. sorry, it's charlie. surely you you you just wanted another spot on the oh, two hits or enough. >> thanks . >> thanks. >> thanks. >> you go. well, there we go. we've. the mystery has been solved. >> to be fair, it was worrying me a bit when i heard little beep beep, considering everything that's happening in the world. yeah, at least, at least, at least the idf or mossad didn't supply these particular headphones. well, no. anyway, we've got lots more coming up on today's show. now, there is a new woke monstrosity in trafalgar square

. there usually is, but this one's new. we'll show

break. >> good afternoon. britain. it is 12 minutes to two. and here's one for you. trafalgar square's fourth plinth. it hosts a striking new artwork. that's what's being described as. striking new artwork. that's what's being described as . the what's being described as. the artwork is by mexican artist teresa margolles. >> yes. the installation. there it is. it features 726 plaster masks of transgender and gender variant people from across the globe, each intended to weather and deteriorate over the next two years. for two years, two years, that monstrosity. >> it's odd. the art piece aims to give visibility to the community and commemorate

murdered trans singer karla berardi, blending art with activism. >> right . okay, activism. >> right. okay, i'm activism. >> right . okay, i'm not sure >> right. okay, i'm not sure what this has to do with london or our capital city, but, we know that we like to have very diverse plinths in our capital city. we don't necessarily like to have them. >> we have we know that our mayor likes to have them. >> and apparently this artist, likes to use blood. and, grease from autopsies in her artwork. i don't believe she's used that in this one, but yes, because she was a forensic pathologist in a past life, so she likes to incorporate the blood of deceased people in her artwork. >> what's wrong with the statue? >> what's wrong with the statue? >> and now she's moved on to, transgender masks. >> what's wrong? i the other three plinths of trafalgar square have brits, from history, military leaders mostly, commemorated there . we've also

commemorated there. we've also got statue. well, the big statue in the middle of trafalgar square. obviously nelson , you've square. obviously nelson, you've got a monarch in front of him on a horse . good stuff. yeah. you a horse. good stuff. yeah. you do, why? why can't we just have a normal statue there on the fourth plinth? it's been suggested time and time again that this is the place for her majesty queen elizabeth the second. >> may i just say, this artist at the beginning of her career, she was given a stillborn foetus by her mother, which she encased in cement. and she was also known for smuggling blood in greece from these autopsies to use in her sculptures. is that legal? it doesn't sound very legal. perhaps in mexico it is. i don't know. anyway, shall we speak to rafe heydel—mankoo from the new culture forum? who? i imagine will have something to say about this? rafe i think i may have spoken to you a little while ago about sadiq khan's plans for statues in our public realm , well, this is an

realm, well, this is an interesting one. >> it is . >> it is. >> it is. >> look, you know, this is ugly. it's crude , it's unimaginative, it's crude, it's unimaginative, andifs it's crude, it's unimaginative, and it's so predictable in its virtue signalling. and, you know, you can't say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. because the british public were polled on this when it first was unveiled. >> the images of it and only one quarter of the public had any like for it. so you have to ask, you know, given that no one wants it, why is the mayor and his ilk foisting this on us? >> and that's because they're trying to create a new cultural orthodoxy for londoners. they're trying to transform this ancient city with all of its traditions, into something new. it's not just a net zero mayor. he's a year zero mayor, attacking all of our culture and the fourth plinth could have been used to celebrate british history and london. >> we've got so many great british artists. it's interesting that of the six people shortlisted, five were ethnic minorities and the only white person was a woman. >> despite the fact, of course, that britain is still overwhelmingly white british. >> and that shows you that the

idea here is to hijack and transform this platform to promote sadiq khan's , you know, promote sadiq khan's, you know, his divisive agenda of identity politics, virtue signalling and anti—british propaganda. >> and i'm sorry, but public spaces are for everyone to share. and unfortunately, now if you go on the tube you're bombarded with this messaging with anti—british poems. if you're on the overground, the lines have been renamed the pubuc lines have been renamed the public spaces. >> now you know there's no escape. >> you don't have long. so i'll just put what the mayor might say. the mayor might say that actually, london has always been about the old. with the new, it doesn't mean getting rid of what's already there, but i mean the majesty of london is that it's not frozen in time. like rome , that it doesn't have sort rome, that it doesn't have sort of a height limit. rome, that it doesn't have sort of a height limit . it's got of a height limit. it's got gleaming skyscrapers next to sort of ancient london roman walls. we can do both in london. what do you say to that ? what do you say to that? >> well, what you said, i completely agree, but what we're talking about here is beauty, and art is supposed to nourish

the soul. it's supposed to inspire us, particularly when we have no choice about the public art. >> we see people who want to fester in negativity and see this artist's artwork can pay to an exhibition. but for the rest of us, this is a daily assault on our eyes. wherever we go around. and i'm afraid also the i'm just i'm horrified by this artist and what she's been doing in previous works. >> i mean , using the blood of >> i mean, using the blood of dead bodies and her fascination with morgues across mexico. worth reading up on rafe. we'll have to leave it there, because, sadly, we're out of time. but rafe heydel—mankoo speak to you again soon from the new culture forum. >> just put a statue of the queen there. it's not difficult, although it's got a nice statue of the queen. make it out of stone. >> her works reflect drug related crime, which i guess is, you know. well, it is london. >> so can we get a british artist? i mean , it might be artist? i mean, it might be nice. much more to come. in the next hour. we'll have the very latest on this extraordinary sponging scandal.

>> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news . news. >> afternoon. welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news tomorrow. again likely to start . tomorrow. again likely to start. pretty grey, most of us seeing some sunny spells but a big change in the south where we are going to see some thundery showers developing. high pressure is still in control, but low pressure is just getting a little closer as the isobars squeeze together. it's made for quite a breezy day across the south, and that brisk breeze will continue, and it will bring back the cloud in from the east as we go through the night, so that clouds spilling back over the midlands, northern england into parts of east wales, western scotland, northern ireland generally stays dry and clear. it will turn quite chilly here with temperatures into single figures, double digits elsewhere. that cloud thick enough for a little bit of drizzle on the coast across the north—east of england and eastern scotland, and over the

pennines also. but most will have a dry night and most will have a dry night and most will have a dry day across scotland dunng have a dry day across scotland during friday. quite a grey start in the east, but plenty of sunshine , i suspect. again sunshine, i suspect. again across the west coast of scotland , once any early cloud scotland, once any early cloud has disappeared. generally a fine day to come across northern ireland and northwest england, but much of northern england to the east of the pennines will be pretty dry . but the east of the pennines will be pretty dry. but in the the east of the pennines will be pretty dry . but in the south pretty dry. but in the south a lot of cloud, certainly to start with. there may even be 1 or 2 showers across the south early on. certainly as the day goes on and the cloud breaks up, we see and the cloud breaks up, we see a bit of sunshine that is likely to spark further heavy showers from late morning onwards across parts of the midlands, southern england and south wales. some heavy downpours are likely through the afternoon and into the evening time. hail and thunder possibility too, staying quite grey in parts of northeast england. eastern scotland cool here, quite warm in western scotland, quite warm again in the south. but we do have to watch out for these thundery showers. as i say, the met office have issued a yellow warning for those thunderstorms

and they're likely to continue into the evening . we could well into the evening. we could well see further heavy and thundery showers on saturday as well. check out the met office website for details on the warnings that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers . boilers. >> sponsors of weather gb

>> good afternoon britain. it's >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:00 on thursday the 19th of 2:00 on thursday the 19th of september. >> i'm tom harwood and i'm emily september. >> i'm tom harwood and i'm emily carver. >> dublin protests irish police carver. >> dublin protests irish police are preparing for massive are preparing for massive anti—immigration protests plans anti—immigration protests plans in ireland's capital this very in ireland's capital this very afternoon. we'll be live there. afternoon. we'll be live there. >> we will indeed. and historic >> we will indeed. and historic harrods allegations. gb news is harrods allegations. gb news is heanng harrods allegations. gb news is hearing lots of women have heanng harrods allegations. gb news is hearing lots of women have already contacted the harrods already contacted the harrods survivors helpline since these survivors helpline since these new allegations of sexual new allegations of sexual

assault and rape came to light against former owner mohamed al—fayed . al—fayed. >> sukh scrounger, the prime minister, has been given more freebies than any other mp since 2019, with sir freebie accepting gifts and tickets worth more than £107,000. >> well and walkie talkie warfare israel has declared a new phase of war after it was accused of being behind a second wave of remote controlled explosions in lebanon . explosions in lebanon. >> i, i can't help but wonder. >> i, i can't help but wonder. >> don't make the joke. it's not a joke. don't joke . you'll a joke. don't joke. you'll regret it. >> you'll regret it. not a joke. i just can't help but wonder. there are lots of hezbollah commanders. there's nothing to laugh about. no, there are lots of hezbollah commanders sitting there while they're planning

their rocket launches against jewish people

survivors helpline since these new allugations of sexual tatiana. >> tom. emily. thank you. the top stories gb news has been told that lots of women have contacted the harrods survivors helpline since new allegations of sexual assault and rape have come to light. five women have told the bbc that they were raped by the former harrods boss, mohamed al fayed, when they worked at the luxury london department store, the bbc's heard testimony from more than 20 female ex—employees, who say the billionaire, who died last year at the age of 94 sexually assaulted them, including rape. the documentary and podcast al fayed predator at harrods gathered evidence that during firearms ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene but helped cover up abuse allegations. harrods current owners say they were utterly appalled by the allegations, and said his victims had been failed, for which the store sincerely apologised . the bank sincerely apologised. the bank of england has left interest

rates unchanged at 5%, but said it could reduce borrowing costs gradually over time if inflation stays low. eight of the nine members on the bank's monetary policy committee voted to keep the uk base rate unchanged. the decision to pause comes a month after the central bank cut rates from 5.25%, instigating the first reduction since 2020 and delivering good news to borrowers facing higher costs . borrowers facing higher costs. it's been revealed that sir keir starmer has received more freebies than any other mp since 2019, totalling around £100,000. a cabinet minister has defended the prime minister, saying he's in a pressure job and should be allowed to enjoy gifts and hospitality if it's declared correctly. this comes after it was also revealed the prime minister's chief of staff, sue gray, reportedly takes home a salary of £170,000. that's 3000 more than the prime minister and greater than any conservative predecessor. the business secretary says ministers have no

political input in the pay of their advisers, as he defended sir keir starmer amid criticisms of his chief of staff's salary . of his chief of staff's salary. business and trade secretary jonathan reynolds says restrictions on uk arms exports to israel are fair and proportionate. it comes after israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu launched an outspoken attack on sir keir starmer over the government's decision to suspend some arms sales to israel. fears have intensified that the conflict between israel and lebanon could escalate after and lebanon could escalate after a second wave of attacks in beirut . a second wave of attacks in beirut. lebanese a second wave of attacks in beirut . lebanese terrorist group beirut. lebanese terrorist group hezbollah have accused israel of being responsible for the co—ordinated attacks, which saw a wave of walkie talkie and pager explosions across lebanon. the idf says they are not responsible. it's understood 20 people were killed yesterday, whilst 12, people were killed yesterday,

whilst12, including people were killed yesterday, whilst 12, including two children, lost their lives in the blasts on tuesday. that's as nearly 3000 people remain in hospital, 200 of those in a critical condition. >> he has always been a controversial character, you know , from the cash for know, from the cash for questions row way back in the 90s, and he was accused of sexual assault in round about 2009, which was never proven. and now we've got these allegations. now these are far, far more serious allegations than the than the previous ones. people will stop going to the store, but that's why i think harrods have moved so quickly this morning to say, look, we are we are the new owners . we are we are the new owners. we are we are the new owners. we are a different harrods. we would never have covered anything up like this, they accept the i think they accepted that there was a cover up and it shouldn't have happened and have offered apologies to all the victims involved . victims involved. >> that's the former royal correspondent charles rae, speaking to gb news. this

morning. in other news, the national pharmacy association will hold a ballot for members next week on whether to take industrial action for the very first time. if the vote passes. pharmacies could open for fewer hours or potentially provide reduced services. that's as the association calls for an additional £1.3 billion in funding across pharmacies in england , a health watchdog has england, a health watchdog has warned. failings in nhs maternity wards are more widespread than previously thought. a review conducted by the care quality commission rated almost half of services as inadequate or requiring improvement. only 4% were classed as outstanding and 48% rated as good. health minister baroness moran says the findings are shocking . are shocking. >> women definitely deserve better and we are committed to looking at all of the recommendations within this report. we are also ensuring that those maternity trusts who

need to do better are identified early on and are getting support to improve, and we are also going to be recruiting thousands more midwives, some of them being trained from new. but i also would appeal to midwives who've left the nhs . who've left the nhs. >> a man has pleaded not guilty to owning or being in charge of two xl bully dogs , which killed two xl bully dogs, which killed a woman. 40 year old ashley warren appeared in court today where he denied two charges relating to the dogs named in court papers as beauty and bear, which killed 68 year old esther martin in jaywick in essex on february the 3rd. this year. an inquest hearing was told miss martin was found unresponsive inside a property and she had sustained unsurvivable dog bite wounds and a thunderstorm warning has been issued for large parts of england and wales over the next two days, bringing

the threat of frequent lightning and large hail. the first met office warning currently in effect until 8 pm. tomorrow, stretches from the west midlands to the south east and includes the south—west. it also covers the south—west. it also covers the western part of wales, including cardiff and swansea, and the agency says lightning strikes during the storms could also cause damage to buildings . also cause damage to buildings. and those are the latest tv news headunes and those are the latest tv news headlines for now. i'm tatiana sanchez. more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . forward slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain at 2:09. we're taking you straight to dublin live, where massive immigration protests, anti—immigration protests are underway. our reporter dougie beattie is on the ground now.

dougie, what's the scene ? dougie, what's the scene? >> well, it's a beautiful summer's day in the middle of o'connell street, straight outside the gpo. >> where of course, ireland basically won its freedom back in 1916 as they see it. but really, what is happening here, tom, is this is middle class working people and a lot of businessmen. and amongst this as well, i've been covering this for about two years and people were saying, oh, it's working class people, etc. it's not. it's far from it. these people have have arrived here today. they're going to march up to the doyle. they basically their westminster where it has come back after its summer recess, and they intend to tell the politicians there no more immigration. they're not against legal immigration, they are against the thousands. and thousands of people that have been brought into ireland, set up a tent cities. and i mean, if i just look out, out here, i could see signs everywhere. coolock thornton, kerry, etc. they're coming from all over the

country to tell the irish government, you are our political representatives and you are not listening to what is going on here. now, earlier on, there was a slight scuffle with one of the garda siochana and the locals. things just got out of out of hand . ever such of out of hand. ever such a small part. but as i'm standing here, the crowds themselves are swelling and they are going to get under way. probably within the next ten minutes. we know there is a counter protest and that's mainly the public sector workers in the grafton street area. but really this is the irish telling their elected representatives , we have had representatives, we have had enough and i would expect there to be a general election called in ireland, probably within the next 4 to 5 weeks, because of how it has fallen in the polls. sinn fein is fail, fianna fail has failed. fine gael is slightly ahead and of course, the taoiseach, simon harris, is a fine gael taoiseach at this minute in time, but definitely there is not only anger, but

there is not only anger, but there is not only anger, but there is concern and there is a real worry that ireland is full and has no more room . and has no more room. >> dougie, there's clearly a strong sense of feeling out there behind you. a huge number of people, from what we can see, lots of flags being waved as well. are any of these people affiliated to a particular organisation or group, or are these just ordinary citizens from across the country who have found out about this protest through presumably social media and talking to friends and things ? things? >> that's exactly why i'm here, emily. actually because this is not an unlike , it is not like not an unlike, it is not like any other protest. it is. it is people from many parts of life coming here, many walks of life. there is no one big organisation in here. this is just basically concerned citizens. many organisations are represented here, but it was one that was pulled together on social media. and as i've said to you, they

are from all walks of life and are from all walks of life and are very concerned about where ireland is going. >> we just saw someone attempt to push you. are you all right? what was that about ? what was that about? >> no, no. so what's happening? the mainstream media in ireland are really being quite , one are really being quite, one sided. i don't have any point of saying . saying. >> oh, and the signal has just dnpped >> oh, and the signal has just dripped out. but it does. it does seem that there might be some hostility towards the press at this protest . that's, that's at this protest. that's, that's not unusual for sort of protests like that. >> yes. well, don't worry, we will check in with dougie beattie and make sure everything is okay at those protests. but as you could see, a very busy street there, very busy protest, lots of people there with their flags protesting, walking down the street. we'll catch up with dougie a little bit later, but for now, shall we speak to stephen edgington, our reporter who has a new gb news documentary , immigration the documentary, immigration the truth. stephen tell us more

about your documentary. i believe you are there for us. the documentary essentially follows the immigration in this country. looks at how different experiences of it. stephen, thank you very much. tell us more about your documentary. >> so this documentary explores why britain has become a nation of immigrants and really investigates the backlash towards immigration in recent years. if you look at opinion polls, immigration is now the number one issue. the number one priority for british voters. and many people thought after the 2016 brexit vote, immigration as an issue would go away. but no, the opposite has happened, particularly because immigration has been ramped up in recent years. we've seen record levels of both legal and illegal migration, and in this documentary, i wanted to find out why that had happened and discuss some of people's some people's reactions and views

towards this recent spike in immigration and we went to a very diverse place in britain. leicester in fact, the least white city in the uk , and white city in the uk, and they've recently elected a pro gaza muslim independent mp. and we also went to great yarmouth, a town that voted for the reform party, voted for rupert lowe. and i wanted to really get that contrast of people living in two different politically very different politically very different areas to understand their attitudes towards immigration. we had some really interesting, emotive stories. one chap called lee in great yarmouth was a homeless man and he was talking about, you know, what it's been like for him living on the streets since 2018. and in that same year that was when the illegal boats channel crisis began . and since channel crisis began. and since then, you know, he's been having to live out of a car and, you know, he's been desperately trying to get a home. and at the same time, 100 more than 100,000 illegal immigrants have entered britain via the channel boats, and many of them have been given hotels. in some cases, luxury

hotels. in some cases, luxury hotels for free. so there's a lot of anger, particularly around this issue of hotels in places like great yarmouth and across the country. >> fascinating stuff. stephen, where can people find this documentary ? documentary? >> they can find it on gb news. com they can watch it for free. now go and watch it . it's very now go and watch it. it's very good. it's sort of 20 minutes long, and you just have to sign up. >> fantastic. thank you very much indeed. stephen edgerton live from washington. with that new documentary, immigration the truth, out today, we're going to turn our attention to domestic politics. sir keir starmer, because his chief of staff, sue gray, is taking home a whopping salary of £170,000. now that is £3,000 more than the prime minister himself. so that's raised some eyebrows , hasn't it, tom? >> not just the figures, but also the fact that this was leaked, leaked from inside number 10, perhaps trouble in paradise behind that famous black door who has been leaking

against keir starmer's chief of staff. is there internal fighting going on? but of course, keir starmer doesn't have to worry about his smaller pay have to worry about his smaller pay packet than his chief of staff because he doesn't have a particular hole in his pocket since, of course, after 2019, he's received more freebies than any other mp. >> yeah, he's received , over >> yeah, he's received, over £100,000 in these gifts and freebies, 107,000 or so pounds. you then got lucy powell, who is the house of commons leader. you've got greg smith there , in you've got greg smith there, in third place and then karen bradley and it goes on, but very interesting that sir keir starmer is so far ahead of the rest of the pack. he clearly likes receiving gifts, these are tickets , particularly the tickets, particularly the football, particularly the football. >> strange to see in this list of who, of who has been receiving the most gifts since

2019. five conservatives and five opposition mps from that time in parliament and that time in parliament, of course, saw a massive conservative majority. so you'd expect the biggest number of people on that list to be conservatives. but it isn't. it isn't. you've got, i suppose thatis it isn't. you've got, i suppose that is . i don't know, actually, that is. i don't know, actually, i don't know, but it is interesting to see keir starmer well out ahead, almost in a completely different league compared to these other mps who received these gifts. i'm pretty extraordinary number when you come to think about it. >> from what i can tell, it would appear that sir keir starmer believes that he deserves to live quite a lavish lifestyle and he's happy to do so on someone else's pound. that's how it appears to me. but of course, unless he's just very he's very bad at saying no. you know, if someone offers me something, he just does it out of politeness. how can i possibly turn it down? you know, ihave possibly turn it down? you know, i have to say, yes, i love that. >> i love that theory that there's sort of just this very sort of english awkwardness to

say no when someone offers him something , he just can't find something, he just can't find a way to say no. so he's just his house is just full of gifts that he didn't want. he can't move for vases and picture frames and tables. i don't know how that stands. he's just it's just everything in his life is full of all of these unwanted gifts. >> i wanted to go in the stands. i really wanted to go in the stands like everyone else. like the good socialist i am, you know, with the hoi polloi. i wanted to do it, but. but then i was offered these hospitality tickets and i just couldn't say no. i just couldn't say no. i love how mrs. starmer, lady, lady starmer, lady victoria starmer, didn't just once go to taylor swift's concert for free. >> she went twice on hospitality tickets , gifted to her and tickets, gifted to her and actually only declared late as well. a slight rule breach there in how they were declared. >> i just think obviously this donor who's and obviously also the premier league who've given these hospitality tickets, wants something out of this. they want

to get closer to the prime minister. they may wish to influence policy in a way. basically those two things. yeah. it's access, isn't it? it's access, and it does not look good. are they getting something in return? are they getting something in return ? getting something in return? >> clearly. lord alli got a downing street pass. he did? yeah, that's since been rescinded. but my goodness me, that's the sort of past that is like gold dust in westminster. lots of people have been saying this guy is a member of the house of lords. of course he did. do you know how many members of the house of lords have that sort of downing street pass? precisely zero. i mean , do pass? precisely zero. i mean, do you know how many cabinet ministers have that sort of pass? well, it's just about only the prime minister and the chancellor. and then you find out and then you find out that sir keir starmer, the prime minister, spent an awful lot of time at lord hardie's £18 million penthouse in covent garden. >> so there you go. it's all very buddy buddy, all very cosy. cosy. i'll buy your wife's clothing and throw in a personal shoppen clothing and throw in a personal shopper. why not a few

spectacles? not a problem. >> the context of course, of all of this is that this is the guy who fought the general election who fought the general election who defined his leadership on being the guy who would clean up politics, who hit out for weeks over who paid for the wallpaper in downing street, saying that that any sort of donation obviously opens someone up to impropriety. i like that that's the context. >> rac the hypocrisy is just mad. and you can't even take the wallpaper with you. you can't even take the wallpaper with you.so even take the wallpaper with you. so there you go, anyway, let us know your thoughts. we've got lots more coming up on today's show, including the. well, the allegations against mohamed al—fayed, the former owner of harrods, the superstore in central london, some shocking allegations against him. stay tuned

for good afternoon britain, it is now 224 now allegations of rape have been placed at the door of former harrods owner al fayed . fayed. >> well, in a documentary, more than 20 women formerly employed by the egyptian billionaire are accusing him of assault and physical violence. in response, the current owners of the luxury department store say they are utterly appalled by the revelations and say that harrods is a very different organisation today. >> well, joining us now is journalist and broadcaster al purvis. thank you very much indeed for joining purvis. thank you very much indeed forjoining us to talk indeed for joining us to talk about this, what do we know about this, what do we know about these new allegations that are in this bbc documentary? there have been allegations in the past about this man. >> that's right. there has been, so the very latest is obviously the police are taking these

allegations very seriously, and as you know, from previous, claims regarding other high profile members that we've seen over the last couple of years, you know, one person tends to come forward and this has an influence on other people. and, you know , does help them to feel you know, does help them to feel a bit braver about coming forward. obviously, these allegations are being taken very, very seriously. and the harrods department store is actually, you know, has been very, very quick and is constantly putting out comms around around this story , and a around around this story, and a lot of people in the industry, i worked at a showbiz reporter in the early 2000. you know, some people did hear certain rumours at the time, and yet some people are very surprised by these latest accusations. >> well , latest accusations. >> well, mohamed al fayed shot onto the into the public consciousness, perhaps not so much to do with him and his own personal dealings, but his son and his son's relationship with

princess diana . princess diana. >> that's right. and that was the capacity in which i myself actually experienced. mr al fayed back in the early 2000, we know that he was extremely close to his son, dodi, who very sadly passed away after a car crash with princess diana, and it was in that capacity and, the sort of relationship that mr al fayed had with the british media in particular, that interested me when i was working in showbiz circles, and it was actually a mutual friend who worked in the corporate world with mr al fayed, who arranged for me to have my first meeting with him. and it was really obvious to me from the very first moment that i got to know mr al fayed, how close he was to his son dodi. and of course, you know, his whole family have been entrenched in controversy. you know, the whole years that mr al fayed lived in the uk, wherever he went, you know, it was like the most brilliant media front stories you could imagine. there

was always some controversy following him. >> what was he like as a man? i mean, reading some of these allegations, very shocking that so many women have now come forward. just some of the descriptions of the way he used to sort of patrol the department store looking for young women who he found attractive , who who he found attractive, who worked there and tried to take them off, you know , secretly to them off, you know, secretly to isolate them and then attack them or so that his personal assistant was subjected to an intimate medical check . and the intimate medical check. and the suggestion is that that was so that it would they could check her for stis in case they got intimate. i mean , were you aware intimate. i mean, were you aware of any of this? did he come across as a particularly sleazy man? >> so i can tell you there were rumours, before my certainly before my first meeting with mr al fayed. at the time, that he perhaps liked ladies. he was a bit of a ladies man. he was

quite flirtatious. i made sure that in my first meeting with him, it was at the offices of harrods. there was a glass partition with armed bodyguards behind throughout my first cup of tea with mohamed al fayed . it of tea with mohamed al fayed. it was extremely nerve wracking and very intimidating. however, you have to remember that i was used to working in these circles, perhaps not quite as high profile as mohamed al fayed, but i was used to holding people in power to account and, obviously meeting, you know, the rich and famous and whether that was businessmen or socialites or hollywood actors, you know, that was part of my job. however, it was part of my job. however, it was unnerving. it was intimidating, and i made sure that people knew where i was , that people knew where i was, how long i'd be. i was on the phone to my sister as soon as i left, and i found him extremely polite. he was extremely charming to me. i opened up about a lot of things. i wanted to know how he felt about the royal family, the british media and, also i wanted to try and get him on board to make a tv documentary, a behind the scenes about harrods, which at the time

would have been explosive. television and obviously we didn't know the recent claims at that time. that was very obviously not going to be the case. he made that known to me as soon as, you know, within, within seconds, basically, we did draw up, have a bit of a friendship, i confided him. i laughed about the prices of buying property in london. he offered to lend me £20,000 to help me get my foot on the ladden help me get my foot on the ladder, and buy a flat in london, and this was an offer that i very politely but firmly declined. and there was a definite shift in in the mood after that particular, refusal on my part, and then you know, from then we had various other meetings . i was trying to write meetings. i was trying to write some academic papers about his relationship with the british media and the royal family, but eventually he phased me out. >> really fascinating how he offered you this, this loan and

when you didn't take it, that's when you didn't take it, that's when the relationship started to break down. it almost suggests that this is someone who sort of used his wealth to sort of have leverage on people, get closer to people, completely understand why you chose to reject that offer . offer. >> absolutely. and also, i think because i worked in those circles, i did know how extremely well connected mohamed al—fayed was at the time, but again, you know, he was nothing but charming and polite to me. but there was definitely an edge of, intimidation and, you know, chatting to somebody over a cup of tea, knowing that there are armed bodyguards just metres away, analysing everything you're doing, your body behaviour, your physical language, everything, and, you know, and every time i met him, i did ask and insist that those meetings over tea would be at harrods or in a public space, and even in one of the restaurants at harrods or cafes, and i'm not entirely sure that

was perhaps, what, him? you know, he perhaps wanted i think there were several occasions where it was suggested we'd meet somewhere else, but i was always very adamant. it had to be in an open place and a public place, even if it was, you know, with armed bodyguards metres away . armed bodyguards metres away. >> so you didn't get the impression that he wanted to, that he may have been looking to isolate you and potentially attack you in the way these women are explaining. i didn't get i didn't get that impression that he wanted to attack me. >> and i think one of the other things that you have to remember at this time, as i was working for a tabloid newspaper. so i think from that point of view and from his point of view, you know, you know, i myself was quite well connected at the time. and i think, any sort of underhand dalliances with a reporter , news reporter, you reporter, news reporter, you know, there's a there's an element of risk there that perhaps wasn't there or as obvious to him when it came to other people who whom he had a certain other powers over .

certain other powers over. >> yeah. people like women, young women working on the sales floor, who don't have, you know, any contacts elsewhere. thank you very much indeed for sharing your experience of, this man, lee purvis. thank you very much. journalist and broadcaster . very journalist and broadcaster. very interesting. really very interesting. really very interesting insight . interesting insight. >> and it's funny because of course, this is such a shocking story. but in some ways it's an unsurprising story. i think a lot of people imagine that's sort of what he was like. that's what a lot of these sort of very, very rich and slightly isolated people are like. >> and the throwing around of the money as well. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> anyway this is good afternoon britain on gb news. we've got lots more coming up on today's show. we are going to be talking about the bomb attacks, the walkie talkie bomb attacks across lebanon after the news headunes. headlines. >> emily, thank you and good afternoon. the top stories. gb news has been told that lots of women have contacted the harrods

survivors helpline since new allegations of sexual assault and rape have come to light. five women have told the bbc that they were raped by the former harrods boss, mohamed al fayed, when they worked at the luxury london department store. the bbc has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex—employees, who say the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them, including rape. the documentary and podcast al fayed predator at harrods gathered evidence that during fayed's ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene but helped cover up abuse allegations . cover up abuse allegations. harrods current owners said they were utterly appalled by the allegations and said his victims had been failed, for which the store sincerely apologised . the store sincerely apologised. the bank of england has left interest rates unchanged at 5%, but said it could reduce borrowing costs gradually over time if inflation stays low. eight of the nine members of the bank's monetary policy committee voted to keep the uk base rate unchanged. the decision to pause

comes a month after the central bank cut rates from 5.25%, instigating the first reduction since 2020 and delivering good news to borrowers facing higher costs . a health watchdog has costs. a health watchdog has warned failings in nhs maternity wards are more widespread than previously thought. a review conducted by the care quality commission rated almost half of services as inadequate or requiring improvement. only 4% were classed as outstanding and 48% were rated as good. health minister baroness merrin says the findings are shocking. >> women definitely deserve better and we are committed to looking at all of the recommendations within this report. we are also ensuring that those maternity trusts who need to do better are identified early on and are getting support to improve , and we are also to improve, and we are also going to be recruiting thousands

more midwives , some of them more midwives, some of them being trained from new. but i also would appeal to midwives who've left the nhs and those are the latest gp news headlines. >> for now. there's more news in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward alerts

>> good afternoon britain. welcome back. it is now 2:39 and we've got lots more coming up, so do stay tuned. but we do also have martin daubney up at 3:00. and he's here to tell us what's up on his show. martin, what have you got planned then? >> well, following on from your

excellent coverage, all eyes on dubun excellent coverage, all eyes on dublin today. >> ireland is full of thousands of working class protesters who the media and politicians have slammed as being far right, of course, of being racist. >> of course, taking to the streets saying they've had enough. >> i'll be joined on the show by those protesters and also senior political figures involved in the ireland is full movement, a protest precipitated by six arson attacks on a proposed asylum seeker site just outside of dublin, and also a knife attack on children and a pensioner robbed in her own home by a bogus council worker. >> dublin is at boiling point will be live throughout the show till 6:00. later in the show, i'll be joined by an astonishing man, a former paratrooper who's in arnhem. 80 years ago this week , operation market harbour. week, operation market harbour. of course, market garden turned the tide of world war two, an astonishing story of a down soldier whose dna was recovered from a site in november 2022.

finally identified and laid to rest with his brothers in arms. his comrades, 80 years after he was killed on those battlefields. an astonishing story. and also to be or not to be cancelled. the woke version of a midsummer night's dream gets the chop in manchester because of its free palestine and trans rights chants. i'll be joined by the daily mail's quentin letts. i think you can guess what he has to say on that matter. action packed 3 to 6. >> goodness me, i'm looking forward to many more shakespearean quotes throughout the show. martin. i'll be tuning in 3:00. thanks forjoining us. >> absolutely. so martin will be following those dublin protests for you. we of course, spoke to dougie beattie a little bit earlier who was right in the thick of things, wasn't he? >> well, perhaps the more apposite quote for the midsummer night's dream one would be still on that. if perchance we have offended think but this and all is mended. >> you just wanted to say that, didn't you? but these visions didn't you? but these visions did appear. >> well, yeah. anyway. >> well, yeah. anyway.

>> anymore any more. >> anymore any more. >> that we have. but wandered here while these visions did appear and this weak and idle theme. something but a dream. anyway, that's that's that's more importantly, israel. >> they've declared a new phase in their war against iran backed militants after a second wave of booby trapped devices targeted terrorists from hezbollah in lebanon were detonated yesterday. >> 20 people were killed and more than 450 injured when rigged. walkie talkies exploded in a second attack that is widely believed to have been carried out by israeli intelligence. >> yes, this comes as the times of israel reports that several explosive laden drones struck northern israel earlier today, with several people said to have been injured. >> well, let's get the thoughts now of cbrn and biosecurity expert hamish de bretton—gordon. hamish, this is a fascinating form of warfare. it sort of reminds me of the harebrained schemes that british intelligence came up with in the intelligence came up with in the in the second world war, or

indeed the sort of cia schemes of exploding cigars and whatnot that they attempted to use against fidel castro. the question, though, is, is it legal ? legal? >> well, whether it's legal or not, i'm not entirely sure, but it is an extraordinarily audacious attack, first of all, the israelis and i'm sure there is nobody else who could have done this, convinced hezbollah terrorists to get rid of their mobile phones, because the israelis had already taken out some key leaders with that . some key leaders with that. >> then the foot soldiers of hezbollah had pages that have obviously been interdicted by the israelis and put explosives in them. and as you reported, many thousands of hezbollah fighters have been injured. and more importantly , identified to more importantly, identified to the israelis. and then yesterday, the push to talk radios exploded. and those are the ones carried by the senior commanders, again, showing them

to the israelis. so what we call not not quite a sort of seesahai type thing as you said, but it's called the indirect approach. it was developed by basil liddell hart after the devastating numbers of casualties in the first world war to do something completely unexpected, to catch people on the hoof. now the legality to it. well, there have been civilians killed , and every been civilians killed, and every civilian death is to be lamented. but when you look at the amount of civilian deaths from conventional war in ukraine in the tens, if not hundreds of thousands, and also the civilian deaths in gaza, this type of warfare, to me, is the most effective psychologically. it's devastated hezbollah and their iranian backers, who probably it's aimed at. so an amazing operation. and let's hope it bnngs operation. and let's hope it brings peace rather than quicker than just bombing. bombing everybody on both sides and trying to kill as many as possible. >> hamish there have already

been some reprisals. we're expecting to hear from hezbollah's chief in the next 15 minutes or so. what might he say ? minutes or so. what might he say? >> well, i'm not sure . i mean, >> well, i'm not sure. i mean, you're right. there have been some reprisals , but a few some reprisals, but a few missiles fired in the direction of israel. and when you think the command and control the way hezbollah directs its troops have been, has been absolutely devastated, they're now going back to 19th century communications, pen and pencil and runners, which again, is very obvious to the israelis, whereas the israelis still have 21st century type activity , the 21st century type activity, the leader of hezbollah is , you leader of hezbollah is, you know, obviously he is devastated. everybody is in panic, and not least, the iranians , too. so i expect he iranians, too. so i expect he might be turning towards tehran and saying, you know, what on earth is going on? you need to support us here. and trying to galvanise his people because

psychologically, i think, i think hezbollah at the moment doesn't really exist in any sort of format. but let's hope and i think everybody hopes that this might lead rather more quickly to a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution than keep hammering away . but yeah, i expect the away. but yeah, i expect the leader of hezbollah is will choose his words carefully because they're really up against it. and i think the israelis have inferred that actually, they've realised that the only way they're going to get the remaining hostages out of gaza is to get the iranians to order that, and that seems to be what they're doing here. and i think iran is really struggling. you know , iran is struggling. you know, iran is not a nuclear power. israel is iran's communications have been completely overwhelmed by this attack from israel. so let's hope the balance of power will shift and shift. most importantly towards a ceasefire. >> well, that's the big hope. i

suppose the worry is that they've been prodding the bear. but, i suppose at least it is much more targeted than than bombing, as you say. hamish de bretton—gordon really appreciate your expertise and your thoughts on this issue. thanks for joining us. >> thank you very much indeed. well, we've got lots more coming up on today's show, so do stay tuned. apparently teachers are leaving the profession, so they're being offered more lie—ins. so presumably come in late. >> i've always thought schools should start later. >> i mean, well, you're a teenager, you're a boy, you're a boy. teenage boys, they need lots of sleep. >> start later, end later. easy. everyone wins. >> well, we'll after the

break. good afternoon. britain. it is now 250 now. schools in england.

they're offering a variety of perks for teachers, such as a nine day fortnight and so presumably you do ten days and then usually. yeah okay. and weekly lie—ins to attract new teachers and to retain the teachers and to retain the teachers they already have. >> well, with the teaching profession facing severe recruitment and retention challenges, schools are exploring ways to compete with other sectors. though experts argue more is needed to address the recruitment crisis. >> okay. well joining us now to discuss this is education consultant calum robertson. it seems that in trying to recruit and retain more teachers, what they're saying is you can work a bit less . bit less. >> i think that that's potentially an uncharitable approach to this. we know that. >> we know for a fact a lot of teachers leaving the profession, and that the profession just physically doesn't have enough staff to teach kids effectively. >> and as a result, staff to teach kids effectively. >> and as a result , the as >> and as a result, the as a result, kids outcomes are falling. >> and that's, that's obviously

not right. >> so we need a remedy for this. how do we do that. >> well the reports today are actually various academic reports over a coming months have shown that as the labour market shifts and other industries and other sectors have more flexibility in their work, that is improving their retention statistics in those jobs. >> now all teachers, some teachers and organisations are saying is let's try this for the education profession. >> teachers, for example, get planning periods, >> they'll usually get 5 or 6 planning periods a fortnight, depending on the particular role they have. >> if you're slightly more senior, you get, slightly more non—contact time with your lie—in managing people, etc. >> same as in other sectors . >> same as in other sectors. there's no reason that time can't be taken remotely, and that's not taking them away from kids, etcetera. it's just saying, actually, you have the freedom to do your work a bit more remotely or a bit more flexibly. that if that's a motivation or a strategy that not only improves teacher retention but actually gives

kids, teachers who are better, better for prepared their jobs, i think everyone wins there. and i think everyone wins there. and i would add just one one tiny more thing in. i worked at a school a couple of years ago where we tried this, and the outcome of allowing teachers who, with higher levels of absence, high levels of sickness to work remotely a little bit, cause those teachers to drop those sickness rates because they actually had time to work to recover. and actually, the impact of that was beneficial for the students because you had fewer students in front of coven fewer students in front of cover, supervisors and cover teachers, which meant more kids were getting expert teaching . were getting expert teaching. >> it is a conundrum. of course , >> it is a conundrum. of course, because paying teachers more, which i suppose would be the ultimate boon for recruitment, is incredibly expensive. the government has already done one big public sector pay hike above inflation, which, which i suppose is all about retention

and recruitment. but ultimately it's pretty hard to find ways to keep pumping more money into the system. so i suppose more creative things are being looked at. how much is artificial intelligence going to be an issue here, >> i think i mean, artificial intelligence can be useful, but i think it's the thing about education. it's a entirely it's a human interacting interacting sector , so it's use at the sector, so it's use at the moment, whilst ai is still relatively limited in its effectiveness, it's just not got the same scope as it does potentially when it comes to writing code or writing accounting software, etc. it's just not got the same pull at the moment. now, in 1015 years time, the thing is 1015 years time, the thing is 1015 years time it might do. but at the moment we're just not at that stage. >> okay, calum, we're going to have to leave it there, sadly. education consultant callum robinson really great to get youn robinson really great to get your, your teachers need to be treated like elite athletes. goodness me. well, first time this has been. >> good afternoon, britain. martin is up next. he is.

>> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on . solar, sponsors of weather on. gb news. >> afternoon. welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news tomorrow. again likely to start pretty grey, most of us seeing some sunny spells but a big change in the south where we are going to see some thundery showers developing. high pressure is still in control but low pressure is just getting a little closer as the isobars squeeze together. it's made for quite a breezy day across the south, and that brisk breeze will continue , and it will bring will continue, and it will bring back the cloud in from the east as we go through the night. so that cloud spilling back over the midlands, northern england into parts of east wales , into parts of east wales, western scotland, northern ireland generally stays dry and clear. it will turn quite chilly here with temperatures into single figures , double digits single figures, double digits elsewhere. that cloud thicken up for a little bit of drizzle on the coasts across the north—east of england and eastern scotland, and over the pennines also. but most will have a dry night and

most will have a dry night and most will have a dry day across scotland during friday. quite a grey start in the east but plenty of sunshine, i suspect. again across the west coast of scotland once any early cloud has disappeared. generally a fine day to come across northern ireland and north—west england, but much of northern england to the east of the pennines will be pretty dry. but in the south a lot of cloud. certainly to start with, there may even be 1 or 2 showers across the south early on, certainly as the day goes on and the cloud breaks up, we see and the cloud breaks up, we see a bit of sunshine that is likely to spark further heavy showers from late morning onwards. across parts of the midlands, southern england and south wales. some heavy downpours are likely through the afternoon and into the evening time. hail and thunder possibility too, staying quite grey in parts of north—east england, eastern scotland cool here, quite warm in western scotland, quite warm again in the south. but we do have to watch out for these thundery showers. as i say, the met office have issued a yellow warning for those thunderstorms and they're likely to continue

into the evening. we could well see further heavy and thundery showers on saturday as well. check out the met office website for details on the warnings . for details on the warnings. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on and free gear. keir

enough and free gear. keir starmer has topped a league table of freebies trousered by members of parliament. he's bagged over 107 grand in giveaways so far and today it emerged he was lording it in an £18 million covent garden penthouse during the general election. snouts in the trough and a woke version of shakespeare's a midsummer night's dream has been axed from a manchester theatre after the venue discovered it contained a free palestine chant, and also addressed trans issues they deserve to be or not to be cancelled. i'll be joined by the daily mail's quentin letts and an astonishing story 80 years ago this week. operation market garden saw the tide of world war ii turn. we'll be live from arnhem, where a former paratrooper will tell us the incredible tale of how a british soldier who was killed on the day has been identified from his dna. in 2022, and yesterday was finally laid to rest with his

comrades. a beautiful