maternity pay has suggesting maternity pay has gone too far for women. but she says her comments have been badly misrepresented. >> i've been a minister for women and equalities, i've had three children, i've had maternity leave three times. i don't need anyone to tell me about maternity pay . i have been about maternity pay. i have been one of the people fighting for that and i won't have my views misrepresented and bbc bias. >> the broadcaster has been accused of institutional hostility to israel by three huge jewish organisations over its coverage of the conflict in the middle east, and we'll bring you the latest updates from the region with defence editor at the telegraph. and as sir keir starmer have a woman problem in his party. well, rosie duffield resigned as a labour mp over the weekend. she slammed the for party pursuing cruel policies, and she claimed that the lads are in charge. is she right .7 and are in charge. is she right.7 and the government is attempting to draw a line under freebie gate . draw a line under freebie gate. ministers are to face new rules over how and when they declare donations of hospitality and gifts and the like, but is that

missing the point .7 missing the point.7 so, tom, it's now 1201. what's in store in birmingham today .7 in store in birmingham today? >> well, the shadow chancellor, former chancellor jeremy hunt, has already spoken. but really, what's going on on the stage is a bit of a sideshow compared to what's going on on the floor, where you see representatives for those four leadership candidates milling around, handing out lanyards, handing out treats, tom tugendhat has even been handing out fake tan, called tom tugendhat. and i had a tom toucan tart yesterday, which was very tasty, but lots of different freebies being handed out and different, candidates really trying to put their case across to delegates all leading up to those big speeches on wednesday. is that normal? >> all of these sort of freebies, all this merchandise

or have they stepped it up this time around ? time around? >> well, the last time there was a leadership contest at the conservative party conference was way back in 2005. then, of course, i wasn't at conservative party conference. i was still at school, but but there were freebies handed out then. david davis famously had t shirts that says it's dh for me. there was a famous picture that went around with two rather busty ladies in the double d t shirt. that did cause a bit of a scandal at the time, but yes, whenever there is one of these conferences that that does include a leadership contest, this is a rare thing in british politics, but they're throwing the kitchen sink at it. >> yeah, i'm not sure i'll be using tom tugendhat tan, but perhaps others will. we'll see. maybe people will be going around looking very orange over the next couple of days. but thank you very much, tom. we'll check in a little bit later and please, at home, do get in touch, post your comments, visit gbnews.com/yoursay to join the

discussion. but let's get to the news headlines with mark white . news headlines with mark white. >> good afternoon at 12:03, the main headlines from the gb news centre, a top us lawyer representing a number of mohamed al fayed's alleged victims, claims he did use violence against some women who wanted to speak out. gloria allred told gb news that the former harrods owner made it virtually impossible for victims to report his alleged crimes. at least 60 women have now come forward claiming they were sexually assaulted or raped. >> he used a series of threats against some of the victims, saying if you tell anybody we know where your family lives, if you tell anybody, there'll be consequences for you. if you tell anybody, you'll never work in london again. and also if you tell anyone, you'll be

terminated. and in fact, some of the women, resisted his sexual advances, and sometimes he used violence against them . violence against them. >> the bbc has been criticised in a new report for their coverage of the conflict in the middle east. the report accuses the corporation of anti—semitism and making false and damaging claims about israel. bbc management have said they don't recognise the overall characterisation. former bbc executive danny cohen said the corporation was failing in its duty to impartiality. >> bbc is a very trusted news source and it has a commitment to impartiality and a commitment to impartiality and a commitment to accuracy . and what this to accuracy. and what this report shows today is that the bbc is consistently and systematically showing bias against israel and failing in its duty to impartiality . its duty to impartiality. >> the lebanese prime minister has said up to 1 million people

have been displaced as fighting between israel and the terror group hezbollah continues . group hezbollah continues. overnight, israeli air strikes targeted central beirut for the first time. the terror group, the popular front for the liberation of palestine, said three of its leaders were killed in the strikes. meanwhile, hamas said its leader in lebanon has been killed alongside some members of his family in an airstrike overnight in southern lebanon . tory leadership lebanon. tory leadership contender kemi badenoch has defended comments she made over the level of maternity pay , the level of maternity pay, saying her remarks have been misrepresented. it follows an interview in that the shadow housing secretary appeared to suggest the allowance could be seen as excessive. all three of her leadership rivals have distanced themselves from those comments, but miss badenoch said that she wants an honest

campaign . campaign. >> i've been a minister for women and equalities. i've had three children, i've had maternity leave three times. i don't need anyone to tell me about maternity pay. i have been one of the people fighting for that and i won't have my views misrepresented. >> well, speaking to gb news this morning, the conservative party chairman said the allowance was not too high. >> the third party was the party that brought in statutory maternity pay. so no, i don't think it's excessive. and i think it's excessive. and i think if you talk to organisations like the cbi, they'd say exactly the same thing. >> the uk's biggest steelworks is ending production today after more than a century of operations. blast furnace four is the final furnace operating at tata steel's plant in port talbot. from today it will be shut down, putting around 2000 people out of work. the works will enter a transition phase for the next three years until a new electric arc furnace is installed . the duke of sussex is

installed. the duke of sussex is making a rare visit to the uk today to celebrate the achievements and resilience of seriously ill youngsters and their families. seriously ill youngsters and theirfamilies. prince seriously ill youngsters and their families. prince harry will attend the wellchild awards ceremony in london in his role as the charity's patron, a position he's held for the past 15 years. the king is believed to be spending time at his balmoral home. it's thought he hasn't seen harry since the duke rushed to his father's side after the king's cancer diagnosis in february . the diagnosis in february. the legendary country music singer and actor kris kristofferson has died at the age of 88, a family spokesperson said. the star passed away peacefully at his home in hawaii on saturday. he won three grammys for best country song, help me make it through the night and starred alongside barbra streisand in the 1976 film a star is born, for which he won a golden globe .

for which he won a golden globe. and finally, the late queen and sir david attenborough have been named as our greatest british cultural figures in a survey to mark the 90th anniversary of the british council. the late monarch was voted the country's greatest cultural icon , with 41% greatest cultural icon, with 41% selecting her in the survey. sir david attenborough came a close second, with 40% voting for him, followed by diana , princess of followed by diana, princess of wales. former prime minister winston churchill and queen frontman freddie mercury . and frontman freddie mercury. and those are your headlines. we'll have more for you in half an houn >> for the very latest gb news to direct your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com. forward slash alerts .

gbnews.com. forward slash alerts. >> well welcome back. it is now 1209. you're watching listening to good afternoon britain . now to good afternoon britain. now let's start with what jeremy hunt, the shadow chancellor, has had to say now speaking at the conservative party conference, because he's a he's hit out at what he calls labour's lies about their economic inheritance. he chose to take particular aim at his successor, rachel reeves. he's described her claims of a £22 billion black hole as simply fictitious. i heard that he also said that there may be some kind of surplus. let's find out more with gb news political correspondent katherine forster, who was at jeremy hunt's speech. catherine, he certainly seems to have stuck the boot in to laboun have stuck the boot in to labour. what did he say about this financial black hole? then >> yes he has. i'll come to that in a minute. >> but just to give you a little look around birmingham where we're here for conference, it's chucking it down with rain outside as indeed it did in liverpool for labour. but the

mood is not as gloomy as you might expect, despite the fact that the tories were taken to down just 121 seats. they're a bit cheerier than you might expect, but yes, i went a little bit earlier to hear jeremy expect, but yes, i went a little bit earlier to hearjeremy hunt remember him until very recently, he was in charge of the nation's finances and talking about the economy. now, he took a very different view to the current chancellor, rachel reeves. we've heard a lot of doom and gloom about the terrible state of the economy, about the supposed £22 billion black hole and the awful choices that labour is going to have to take as a result of it. let's take as a result of it. let's take as a result of it. let's take a look at what the former conservative chancellor had to say. >> i think one of the biggest lies we've had since labour came to office is this nonsense about having the worst economic inheritance since the second world war. i note that not a

single independent economist has been prepared to come forward and back up. rachel reeves, in that claim. this week's economist , where, you know, economist, where, you know, there's an article saying that she could actually have not a black hole of 22 billion, but a surplus of 39 billion to play with in the budget, the financial times did a freedom of information request to the treasury to ask where this information request to the treasury to ask where this fictitious 22 billion number fictitious 22 billion number came back. and the reply they came back. and the reply they got back from the treasury was, got back from the treasury was, we can't give you the workings we can't give you the workings because we're not sure they're because we're not sure they're accurate . accurate. >> so jeremy hunt also described accurate . accurate. >> so jeremy hunt also described this black hole as fictitious . this black hole as fictitious . this black hole as fictitious. and yes, you heard him say that this black hole as fictitious. and yes, you heard him say that far from £22,000,000 billion far from £22,000,000 billion black hole there was black hole there was potentially, in fact, a £39 potentially, in fact, a £39 billion surplus, depending on the way that all of this is billion surplus, depending on the way that all of this is

calculated. so he's putting a calculated. so he's putting a very much more optimistic gloss very much more optimistic gloss on the economy, saying that the on the economy, saying imf say we're going to grow faster than france , faster than faster than france, faster than germany, faster than japan, that things are really rather a lot corporate request to the better. but he worries that decisions that labour are going to make are going to kill potential growth. one other thing he said that i think just worth noting is he talked about the ballooning welfare budget. it has rocketed during covid. we're paying vast amounts of money out in out of work benefits. it's something that the government wants to tackle. but he's saying given the row that's erupted over the means testing of winter fuel payments, he says he worries that welfare reform will become untouchable. >> well, thank you very much indeed , katherine forster, indeed, katherine forster, you're there, live in birmingham. there does seem to be a little bit of a buzz, although i've heard reports that apparently there are more lobbyists, journalists and

one of the most front runners, one of the most popular, i would say out of the four she's been under fire for comments that she made on maternity pay. she seemed to suggest that it's excessive. i don't know if you've spoken to many young mums recently, but that's certainly not what they tend to say. they certainly say that statutory pay is very low indeed. it's one of the lowest indeed. it's one of the lowest in the oecd. it's given the other tory leadership hopefuls quite the opportunity to, well, argue against her and prove that they're on the side of the women. jenrick went straight in there as well . she said. her there as well. she said. her point of view has been misrepresented by the media, but has it? tom harwood is in birmingham for us and he's joined now by a conservative mp who is backing kemi badenoch to be the next leader of the conservative party. that's shadow minister for london and shadow minister for london and shadow minister for justice,

gareth bacon. thank you very much indeed. please do take it very much more optimistic gloss on theindeed.ny, saying very much more optimistic gloss on theindeed. please ng very much more optimistic gloss on theindeed. please do take it much indeed. please do take it away . away . away. >> thanks, emily. yes, i'm here away. >> thanks, emily. yes, i'm here with gareth bacon and gareth. with gareth bacon and gareth. you've been backing kemi since you've been backing kemi since the start, but yesterday that the start, but yesterday that was a bit of a blunder at the was a bit of a blunder at the very least. an ambiguous comment very least. an ambiguous comment on maternity pay . what was kemi on maternity pay . what was kemi on maternity pay. what was kemi trying to say? >> well, firstly, i think it's on maternity pay. what was kemi trying to say? >> well, firstly, i think it's been completely misconstrued and i think if you watch the entire been completely misconstrued and i think if you watch the entire interview, you can see exactly interview, you can see exactly what she was saying and what she what she was saying and what she was doing was talking about the was doing was talking about the excessive level of regulatory excessive level of regulatory burden that is on businesses. >> as a former business burden that is on businesses. >> as a former business secretary she speaks with some secretary she speaks with some authority on that. and she was authority on that. and she was saying that government in many saying that government in many cases needs to get out of the cases needs to get out of the way of business in to order way of business in to order allow them to thrive. and so allow them to thrive. and so that's the point that she was that's the point that she was making. and in the middle, this making. and in the middle, this was all in the conversation was all in the conversation about maternity pay. >> and she spoke about the about maternity pay. >> and she spoke about the excessive regulations and that excessive regulations and that is a regulation on business. is a regulation on business. >> yes, it is, but she was in >> yes, it is, but she was in the she was in the middle of the she was in the middle of talking about regulation on talking about regulation on business when the journalist who business when the journalist who was interviewing her raised the was interviewing her raised the issue of maternity pay and issue of maternity pay and kemi's answer was, that is kemi's answer was, that is excessive. she was talking about excessive. she was talking about

the regulation on business. she the regulation on business. she wasn't talking about the level of maternity. >> is it illegitimate to say that maternity pay is excessive? i mean, it's lower in the united states of america, it's lower in australia. is that a legitimate point of discussion? >> kemi didn't say that. kemi said that the level of regulation on business was excessive. and the truth of the matter is, of course, i mean, firstly, kemi has received maternity pay. she's got three young children, but secondly, 92% of the level of statutory maternity pay can be reclaimed by businesses. it's the regulatory burden that is excessive and that's the point that kemi was trying to make. >> is that not an issue when you're talking about regulation in the abstract, but not the specific? it's very easy to say that our businesses are overburdened with lots of regulation, but it's very difficult for a politician to say businesses should have to pay say businesses should have to pay people who are out of work more, or businesses or less, or businesses should have fewer environmental standards placed upon them, or businesses should have less health and safety. when you get to the specific, it's a lot harder for a politician to then make that case. >> yes, but kemi wasn't trying to get specific. she was setting

out in broad strokes what her approach would be to business going forward, which is to try to decrease the regulatory burden. and this is at precisely the time where the new labour government are looking to massively increase it with their new employees rights bill, which is going to talking to businesses yesterday. they are very, very worried that actually what's going to happen is that it's going to make it much more difficult to employ people, which is going to be very counterintuitive. if this government claims that it wants to secure economic growth, when this will have the reverse impact, does this get to a problem, perhaps with kemi badenoch candidacy, that she is a very, very bright woman. >> she is a really interesting to talk to, and in many ways , to talk to, and in many ways, that conversation was more like a sort of podcast where she was sort of thinking of ideas rather than sticking with the usual line to take. is it is it not the case that sometimes in an election campaign you do need to have your line to take? you can't be freewheeling, even if it's an interesting conversation and some of the other candidates are more on message. >> look, part of the problem about being on message is that you don't answer the question . you don't answer the question. kemi is a very straight talking

politician. it's one of the reasons why she resonates so powerfully with people. it's one of the reasons why in every single poll of conservative party members, kemi comes out very clearly in front of the rest of the pack. people like authenticity, they like straight talking, they like being told the truth. and these are the hallmarks of kemi's campaign, she is setting out her stall to talk to people very directly, to get into the weeds of very detailed policy proposals. when you are four years minimum away from a general election would be a mistake, wouldn't it? kemi is talking in broad strokes, quite deliberately, but at the very least that was an ambiguous conversation. >> clearly some people took took from it what kemi didn't mean, or that she says she didn't mean. that wasn't particularly straight talking. that was that was more talking cross—purposes. >> she was talking about the level of regulatory burden on businesses. now, i've seen you do interviews, tom, where you have told off other people in the commentariat for cherry picking parts of interviews in order to push their own particular points. and you are quite right in doing that. that is precisely what has happened here. this is being spun because kemi is the front runner and people would like to take kemi down and that's what's going on here. this is this is the media

trying to take something out of context, to blow it up to something that clearly is not what kemi was talking about, and i would encourage people to go and watch the entire interview, rather than the clips that are circulating on social media to see precisely what i mean. >> and just finally, do you think that it was wrong of the bbc to splash this as one of their biggest stories yesterday? >> yes, but then it's not the first time that i've found the bbc's broadcasting to be slightly skewiff. >> well, gareth bacon, thank you so much for talking through that issue there. of course, there's lots going on at this

in charge. does keir

well good afternoon britain. it is now 1223 and yes, after sensationally quitting the labour party on saturday, the mp for canterbury, rosie duffield,

she's now launched a scathing a scathing she's now launched a scathing attack on the prime minister, attack on the prime minister, keir starmer, claiming he has a keir starmer, claiming he has a problem with women. yes. problem with women. yes. speaking on sunday for the first speaking on sunday for the first time as an independent, duffield time as an independent, duffield claimed that it is very clear claimed that it is very clear that the lads are in charge , that the lads are in charge , that the lads are in charge, referring to starmer's inner that the lads are in charge, referring to starmer's inner circle, who she says frequently circle, who she says frequently brief against her and other brief against her and other female mps. could this actually female mps. could this actually could this be true? her could this be true? her extraordinary resignation letter extraordinary resignation letter and are more interested in greed and are more interested in greed and are more interested in greed and power, adding she's ashamed and are more interested in greed and power, adding she's ashamed of labour's sleaze, nepotism and of labour's sleaze, nepotism and avance avance of labour's sleaze, nepotism and avarice that is now off the of labour's sleaze, nepotism and avarice that is now off the scale in her words. well, does scale in her words. well, does our prime minister actually have our prime minister actually have a problem with women? i mean, a problem with women? i mean, the chancellor is a woman, the the chancellor is a woman, the education secretary is a woman. education secretary is a woman. there are many other women in there are many other women in positions of power within the positions of power within the cabinet. so can this possibly be cabinet. so can this possibly be true? we're now joined by former true? we're now joined by former labour mp lloyd russell—moyle. labour mp lloyd russell—moyle. lloyd, thank you very much lloyd, thank you very much indeed. may i just firstly ask indeed. may i just firstly ask where exactly you stand with the where exactly you stand with the labour party at the moment ? labour party at the moment ? labour party at the moment? >> well, i continue to try and labour party at the moment? >> well, i continue to try and

support this government as much as we can to do the best for this country. so that's where i that's where i stand at the moment. but it doesn't mean that i'm without criticism. i've always, i've been a member of the labour party since tony blair, and i've always had a criticism of every single leader, from jeremy corbyn to ed miliband to brown and blair. there are always things that they can do better and more fulfilled. and i think some of rosie's criticisms, things like on the two child benefit cap, on things like the winter fuel payments, are quite very legitimate. we know that lots of people have made those criticisms and said actually the handung criticisms and said actually the handling of a number of them, i don't doubt that we've been given an awful economic situation, but the handling of some of them have been particularly dire, and we need to get better. and i hope and i trust that we will. >> and, lloyd, when she talks about keir starmer having a bit of a woman problem about how it's the lads in charge and you

know, suggesting that keir starmer is much more in tune with the men in the room than the women even briefing against female mps does. does any of that ring true? >> well, look, i was never a female mp and so i can't comment from personal experience that that ever happened to me. i mean, i know that they briefed against me at times and they briefed against other male colleagues as well. i do think we have a factional problem in the party, and some people around keir see it as either in or out , rather than or out, rather than understanding that it is a

draw apparently to try and draw a line under all of this. and those are about when and how you, you declare these gifts as a minister and as an mp. but is it about when you declare these gifts? is it about how you declare these gifts ? is that the declare these gifts? is that the point? >> well , look, there is point? >> well, look, there is a real problem about how you declare some of these gifts. and, and they need to clear up the, the rules around that, because at

the moment it's totally not working . and, it looks dodgy . or out, rather than understé.iding that it is a ’f ”w 7" fl or out, rather than understé. and, that it is a ’f ”w 7" fl or out, rather than understé. and, itat it is a ’f ”w 7" fl or out, rather than understé. and, it looks; a ’f ”w 7" fl or out, rather than understé. and, it looks dodgy??? ”w 7" fl working. and, it looks dodgy. personally, if you've already working. and, it looks dodgy. personally, if you've already bought a season ticket for your, bought a season ticket for your, your football club and then the your football club and then the director invites you into the director invites you into the box, you've already paid to get box, you've already paid to get in there and watch the match. in there and watch the match. but the director has said, come but the director has said, come up and have a drink with me. up and have a drink with me. that's the kind of thing the that's the kind of thing the director does with well known director does with well known season ticket holders all the season ticket holders all the time. and it would be bizarre to time. and it would be bizarre to say, oh no, terribly sorry, i'm say, oh no, terribly sorry, i'm not going to come and join you not going to come and join you in the director's box. i'm going in the director's box. i'm going to sit here in the stands. to sit here in the stands. >> yeah, but you know as well as >> yeah, but you know as well as i do it's not just the football i do it's not just the football tickets. that's just one tiny, tickets. that's just one tiny, one tiny piece of this. one tiny piece of this. >> exactly. so some of it is, is >> exactly. so some of it is, is a bit of riff raff rubbish, you a bit of riff raff rubbish, you know, but some of it is serious, know, but some of it is serious, you know, kind of spending so you know, kind of spending so much on his glasses, they look much on his glasses, they look the same as mine. and i got mine the same as mine. and i got mine from specsavers. so i don't from specsavers. so i don't understand. most people will look at those things and say, understand. most people will look at those things and say, well, hang on a second, i buy well, hang on a second, i buy that out of my own wage and i that out of my own wage and i buy it from the cheapest shop buy it from the cheapest shop going and it works me perfectly going and it works me perfectly well. you've just shown more well. you've just shown more

understanding . understanding. >> you've just shown more understanding . understanding. >> you've just shown more understanding of how the public are feeling towards this story than keir starmer has at all. it's appeared time and time again every time he's, you know, being interviewed by the media or whatever, very much on the defensive. i haven't done anything wrong here, nothing to see here. the only thing that he's really said is, okay, i'm not going to take any more clothing donations, but it was perfectly appropriate when i was in opposition and i wanted to get into power . and i in opposition and i wanted to get into power. and i think he just doesn't seem to get it. do you think it's a bit weird, lloyd, that lord waheed ali is giving so many donations to not just keir starmer, but many cabinet ministers and other labour mps as well . why? labour mps as well. why? >> well , labour mps as well. why? >> well, usually labour mps as well. why? >> well , usually the labour mps as well. why? >> well, usually the complaint is that people are giving donations to try and get influence. i don't think anyone can say lord waheed ali doesn't have influence already because he's a labour lord and he's very close to the inner circles. so i

don't think the money that he's giving is to buy influence, which is the usual reason why we say something's wrong and i suspect why security passed, didn't he? >> he got he got a security pass. >> yes. i mean , okay, he got >> yes. i mean, okay, he got a security guard. he's a lord. most people would expect lords or mps to be able to go to 10 downing street when they, when they need to, to meet the prime minister if they are on the prime minister's team, you know, in the labour team. but i do think that that most people will look at some of the freebies and the level of them, particularly things like clothes and glasses , things like clothes and glasses, particularly things that they normally would buy themselves and say that doesn't pass the sniff test. and i think it would probably be better to say, look, some of these things in hindsight, would have been better not to do. no one's done anything wrong, but in hindsight it would be better not to have done it. and going forward, let's not make that mistake again, because what's important is that we get a labour government that's doing some of the important things that we need to be doing in this country, which is sorting out

the nhs, sorting out the

do think what's more important i do think what's more important is that we have a cabinet that doesn't seem that it just has friends and cronies in, which is the other part of rosie duffield's critique. and generally we've got a very good cabinet, but there are some new people that have come in that are the relatives of friends and family, the relatives of sue gray, the relatives of lord faulkner, the relatives of other people that have ended up going straight into the frontbench. and i do know that that then causes ripples as well. it might well be that they are very good people, expert people. but if you don't serve your time on the backbenches before you get on the frontbench, then it doesn't look good. so we need to make sure that we're doing a bit better on these things and getting on to the issues that matter for this country. >> i think so because those favorability polls aren't doing so well at the moment. but lloyd russell—moyle, thank you very much indeed. former labour mp , much indeed. former labour mp, great to speak to you. this is good afternoon, britain on gb news. we've got lots more coming up on today's show. is there bias at the bbc? the broadcaster has been accused of

institutional hostility to israel over its coverage of the conflict in the middle east. are they right ? they right? >> good afternoon. at 1232, the latest headlines from the gb news centre. former chancellor jeremy hunt has hit out at what he calls labour's lies about their economic inheritance. speaking at the tory party conference, he took particular aim at the new chancellor, rachel reeves , describing her rachel reeves, describing her claims of a £22 billion black hole as fictitious. >> the, the biggest lies we've had since labour came to office is this nonsense about having the worst economic inheritance since the second world war. i mean, that is a legacy, frankly, that i would have died to have when i became chancellor. it's i think the economy has got very solid . solid. >> a top us. lawyer

representing a number of mohamed al—fayed alleged victims claims he did use violence against some women who wanted to speak out. gloria allred told gb news that the former harrods owner made it virtually impossible for victims to report his alleged crimes. at least 60 women have now come forward claiming they were sexually assaulted or raped. >> he used a series of threats against some of the victims, saying if you tell anybody we know where your family lives, if you tell anybody, there'll be consequences for you. if you tell anybody, you'll never work in london again. and also if you tell anyone, you'll be terminated. and in fact, some of the women, resisted his sexual advances, and sometimes he used violence against them . violence against them. >> the lebanese prime minister has said up to 1 million people have been displaced as fighting

between israel and the terror group hezbollah continues overnight, israeli airstrikes targeted central beirut for the first time. the terror group, the popular front for the liberation of palestine, said three of its leaders were killed in the strikes. meanwhile, hamas said its leader in lebanon has been killed along with some members of his family in an airstrike overnight in southern lebanon . the duke of sussex is lebanon. the duke of sussex is making a rare visit to the uk today to celebrate the achievements and resilience of seriously ill youngsters and their families . prince harry their families. prince harry will attend the wellchild awards ceremony in london in his role as the charity's patron, a position he's held for more than 15 years. the king is believed to be spending time at his balmoral home and it's thought he has not seen harry since the duke rushed to his father's side after the king's cancer

diagnosis in february . the diagnosis in february. the legendary country music singer and actor kris kristofferson has died at the age of 88. a family spokesperson said. the star passed away peacefully at his home in hawaii on saturday. he won three grammys for best country song, help me make it through the night and starred alongside barbra streisand in the 1976 film a star is born, for which he won a golden globe . for which he won a golden globe. okay, you're right up to date with the latest headlines. i'm back 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

>> well good afternoon, britain . >> well good afternoon, britain. it is 1239 and today three prominent jewish groups. the board of deputies of british jews, the jewish leadership council and the community security trust. they've all backed a report saying the bbc's coverage of the middle east conflict is institutionally hostile to israel. now. earlier this morning, gb news spoke to former bbc executive and author of this report . let's take of this report. let's take a listen to what he had to say in writing about it, actually in the daily telegraph, since pointing out the failures in the bbc's coverage and the impact that's having on the jewish community, and that ranges from mistakes and very inaccurate reporting to the crucial things that the bbc leaves out more often than not, the bbc does not describe hamas or indeed hezbollah as proscribed terrorist organisations , and terrorist organisations, and often they make mistakes in their reporting that they then do not correct. very interesting. well, we're going to speak to adam cherry, i

believe our reporter. no. okay. we're going to be discussing this with defence and foreign affairs editor at the telegraph. con coughlin con thank you very much indeed forjoining us. i wonder if you just would have have a comment on on that report on bbc bias. is it something that you've noticed, do you think it's legitimate? i know there have been complaints for a long time about the bbc's failure not to call hamas, and now hezbollah as well, terrorist organisations. that seems to be something that the bbc just decided on its own to not do. but then also errors in actual events that have been reported . events that have been reported. >> well, it's a very complex area, to be honest. i mean, i think the bbc does tie itself in knots. by not calling groups like hamas and hezbollah terrorists. i mean , they've come terrorists. i mean, they've come i mean, nothing, you know , what i mean, nothing, you know, what hamas did on october the 7th was an act of mass terrorism. and to

try not to describe it as such. is, you know, ludicrous , and i is, you know, ludicrous, and i think you also see, with the death of nasrallah, the head of hezbollah, now , hezbollah is hezbollah, now, hezbollah is a terrorist movement. and you look at the way the his death has been covered, covered and it's not like he's some kind of hero. and this is a guy who cut his teeth kidnapping british hostages in beirut 30 odd years ago. so, you know, they're not doing themselves any favours with their sophistry. >> in my view . why do you think >> in my view. why do you think it is that they choose sometimes this editorial stance, if they do, that can be seen as bias against israel. >> well, i mean , with all due >> well, i mean, with all due respect, you know, i'm not an expert on the bbc, but i mean, but but you know , i think as but but you know, i think as i said, they they're trying to be impartial. that's, that's the sort of the bbc ethos, and they're pushing impartiality to

my mind, to ludicrous areas. hezbollah is a terrorist organisation. hamas is a terrorist organisation. the people who run it commit acts of terrorism. but i mean, the bbc got themselves in this mess with the ira, you know, 30 odd years ago. so they it's just the nature of the institution . nature of the institution. they're trying to claim the moral high ground . and by so moral high ground. and by so doing, they're getting themselves in a terrible pickle. >> well, let's move on to what actually is going on in the middle east. that is your expertise. that's right, that's right. >> you know, about , where are we >> you know, about, where are we up to in this conflict? >> we've got israel at war in gaza. we've got israel. with an offensive in southern lebanon, huge numbers of displaced people on both sides there. you've also got airstrikes. i believe, now in the yemen against the

houthis, this is very difficult now for israel war on three fronts. it seems . fronts. it seems. >> well, i think the, the amazing thing is that this tiny little country , i mean, anyone little country, i mean, anyone who's been to israel . and the who's been to israel. and the first thing that strikes you is how small this country is. and they're fighting this war, these wars, on so many fronts. now, you know, in yemen, in gaza, southern lebanon , syria, i think southern lebanon, syria, i think they've even had strikes in iraq. they've certainly attacked, tehran, where they killed the hamas leader , ismail killed the hamas leader, ismail haniyeh, and that a small country can undertake this level of military, operations. it's quite, quite formidable. and also their intelligence is fantastic. i mean, they found ismail haniyeh, the hamas leader , ismail haniyeh, the hamas leader, in a hotel room in tehran . they in a hotel room in tehran. they found out where hassan nasrallah

was staying, last week in southern, in the southern suburbs of beirut. i mean, their intelligence is fantastic, but having having said all that, they are running an enormous risk of escalating this conflict into a very big middle eastern conflict . and the elephant in conflict. and the elephant in the room is iran . iran sponsors the room is iran. iran sponsors all these groups , iran will be all these groups, iran will be humiliated that the leader of the leaders of both hamas and hezbollah have been assassinated by the israelis. and they'll they'll want to respond in some way. and how they respond could really define the outcome of this conflict. >> and con is just the just lastly is the is the hope on the israeli side when it comes to hezbollah in particular, that if they take out these leaders, if they take out these leaders, if they take out all of these senior members of the terror group, that they'll put their hands up and just say, we're not

going to we're not going to bombard you anymore. we're not going to try and bombard you. is thatis going to try and bombard you. is that is that the hope? >> well, that's that's what that will that that will be the, the israeli strategy. just to pummel them into submission, i mean , them into submission, i mean, hezbollah is not the force. it was two weeks ago. it's lost not only its leader , all its senior only its leader, all its senior commanders. but having said that, it's a very it's a very powerful force. they've got about 100,000 missiles stored in underground tunnels in southern lebanon. and they could they could really do some damage to israel. so i don't think this is over yet. and i think, you know, we're all going to be watching very closely what the israelis do on the ground and whether they do launch a ground offensive, which could really, really be very provocative for the rest of the region. >> absolutely. well, thank you very much indeed for your time. con coughlin foreign affairs editor at the telegraph. great to speak to you. thank you . now, to speak to you. thank you. now, a we were speaking about

potential bias at the bbc. a spokeswoman has said the israel—gaza conflict is a polarising and difficult story to cover , and we understand to cover, and we understand there are a range of views. the bbc has focused on reporting the conflict impartially, bringing audience breaking news, insight and analysis and reflecting all perspectives . while we do not perspectives. while we do not recognise the overall characterisation of our journalism in this report, we will of course always look at anything raised with us, with care and attention. well, there you go. this is good afternoon britain on gb news. we've got lots more coming up on today's show. we are going to be turning our attention briefly to the duke of sussex, prince harry, because he's returned to the uk. will he meet with his brother and father? cameron walker will join

next. okay, 1250 is the time you're watching listening to good afternoon britain. now, prince harry is going to be in london

today to attend the wellchild charity awards this evening . but charity awards this evening. but there's no sign of meghan as the duchess is staying at home in california. now. the king is believed to be spending time at his balmoral residence, so it doesn't look very likely that there's going to be some kind of father son reunion. but gb news royal correspondent karen walker joins us now. yes. so prince harry is going to be in london, his father is in scotland, is prince william in windsor? >> yeah, we believe so . >> yeah, we believe so. >> yeah, we believe so. >> so, you know, are they gonna will they won't they will they, won't they. >> well, that is the million pound question, emily, isn't it? i mean, the last time we think prince harry saw his father, the king was in february when the king was in february when the king announced he had cancer. and it was a very short meeting. less than an hour before. the king then flew off to sandringham. this time, as you say, he's in balmoral. so the likelihood of logistically of the two meeting is quite remote. prince harry has focused by coming across here to the uk is the wellchild awards. it's a charity he's been patron of for 16 years, helping seriously ill

children in the uk. he's going to be delivering one of the awards, going to the ceremony and meeting a lot of the recipients and their families. but of course all the all the questions are, well , but of course all the all the questions are, well, is he going to reconcile with his father? is he going to reconcile with his brother? the last time he was in the uk was in august for his uncle's memorial service, where he stayed at ultra, which is princess diana's former childhood home, now owned by earl spencer. his his other uncle william, also in the same room as him back in august. and yet witnesses inside that room insist that the two of them did not speak . so i suspect it's not speak. so i suspect it's highly unlikely that harry and william are going to be meeting each other while harry is in the uk. you can just see him last year at the wellchild awards, we saw some briefings to the press about how it was actually princess catherine, princess kate, who reached out to harry on his 40th birthday and they put out that social media post and there was lots of talk about, you know, why they did that? >> does that mean the feud is over? was it to, you know, show

how nice they are or whatever, but yeah, apparently it's princess catherine who's been doing all the trying to reach across the divide. and. >> yeah, so the 40th birthday post, because it's a milestone birthday, 40 years. that's why the royal social media accounts decided to publish a happy birthday. prince harry message. but it wasn't signed off by prince william or catherine. and it wasn't signed off by the king. so it was their team who tweeted out, well, i heard that it was all princess catherine and that she was. >> she made this phone call as well to prince harry and also got him this fabulous gift. so i don't know who's been briefing what i wrote. >> well, what you do need to remember though, there is no way that their team would have tweeted out the happy birthday prince harry message without william and catherine giving the go ahead so they don't absolutely hate his guts, clearly, because obviously it went out. but it's prescient because in 2021, although meghan markle has stood back as a working member by that point as well, the royal social media accounts also put a happy birthday. meghan markle when she turned 40. so i suspect next

year when harry turns 41, we're not going to get a happy birthday message . birthday message. >> we're not going to get a happy birthday message for a 41. it's just not important enough . it's just not important enough. it's just not important enough. i can see, you know, 40. you kind of have to put a post out there, even if you're seriously angry with the man. but thank you very much indeed. cameron wahaca gb news royal correspondent . yes, prince harry correspondent. yes, prince harry is back in town despite presumably all these security concerns as well. lots of you have been getting in touch about what's been going on at the conservative party conference, joyce says the £22 billion black hole is fictitious, according to jeremy hunt , every labour hole is fictitious, according to jeremy hunt, every labour mp hole is fictitious, according to jeremy hunt , every labour mp who jeremy hunt, every labour mp who thinks it's true should be challenged to listen to hunt rather than quoting the present chancellor. lots of you are very, very sceptical about this financial black hole that we've all been told there is. i'm not sure if jeremy hunt was right to suggest that there's some kind of surplus, though . £39 billion of surplus, though. £39 billion surplus. that seems a bit far fetched as well, considering all the money we spent during covid. anyway, we've got lots more coming up on today's show. we are going to be straight back live to birmingham for the tory

party conference. we'll see tom harwood there as well, of course. but first let's take a look at the weather. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb. >> news . >> news. >> news. >> hi there and welcome to the latest update from the met office for gb news drier weather is on the way eventually, but it stays unsettled at first this week with further heavy rain in places as the area of low pressure that brought very strong winds and wet weather to the south and west during sunday, tracks across central parts of the uk, bringing a swathe of very wet weather into parts of northern and eastern england and north wales, as well as parts of eastern northern ireland. that's where the heaviest rain will be through these central parts. risk of further flooding in 1 or 2 spots, particularly northeast england. to the south. cloudy, with some showery rain into the

southwest of england and gusty winds here as well to the north—west. mostly fine for northern scotland, although damp for the central belt and into southern scotland. further showers to come into the evening across the southwest. drier towards the southeast, but we've still got rain coming down across north wales, northeast england into parts of northern ireland, so tricky conditions on the roads . ireland, so tricky conditions on the roads. perhaps at this stage in the day, the central belt into central and northern scotland, it's brighter and there'll be some clear spells, but also 1 or 2 showers and a brisk wind coming in from the east. that wind, though, will be strongest across eastern england as we end the day and go into the start of tuesday, bringing further wet weather into east anglia and then eventually into the midlands as well. that rain will push south elsewhere further west. 1 or 2 showers overnight, but lighter winds , overnight, but lighter winds, some clear spells and actually a bright start for northern ireland and western scotland. that's where the best of the

sunshine will be during tuesday morning. it will brighten up across western england and wales as well. a few showers here and there. but for eastern england that's where we're going to see strong winds and outbreaks of rain continuing through tuesday, making it feel particularly unpleasant . highs of 12 or 13 unpleasant. highs of 12 or 13 celsius that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers . from boxt boilers. >> sponsors of weather on gb. >>

well . well. >> good afternoon britain. it's 1:00 on monday the 30th of september. i'm emily carver now the conservative conference. it kicks off again today in birmingham. shadow chancellor jeremy hunt. he's accused labour of lying about the £22 billion financial black hole. badenoch she's under for fire

suggesting maternity pay has gone. but she says her comments have been misrepresented. >> i've been a minister for women and equalities. i've had three children, i've had maternity leave three times. i don't need anyone to tell me about maternity pay. i have been one of the people fighting for that and i won't have my views misrepresented. >> so there you go. what do you make of that and scandal at strictly, giovanni pernice is braced as the long awaited report into bullying and misconduct is set to be released by the bbc. we'll bring you the very latest as soon as it happens. and does sir keir starmer have a bit of a woman problem? rosie duffield resigned as a labour mp over the weekend, slamming the for party pursuing cruel policies, claiming that the lads are in charge. what's going on? and the government is now attempting to draw a line under freebie gate. ministers are to face new rules over how and when they declare donations of hospitality and gifts and the like, but is this missing the point ?

point? >> good afternoon. it's just after 1:00. the main headlines from the gb news centre. former chancellor jeremy from the gb news centre. former chancellorjeremy hunt has hit out at what he calls labour's lies about their economic inheritance. speaking at the tory party conference, he took particular aim at his successor, rachel reeves , describing her rachel reeves, describing her claims of a £22 billion black hole as fictitious. >> the biggest lies we've had since labour came to office is this nonsense about having the worst economic inheritance since the second world war. i mean, thatis the second world war. i mean, that is a legacy, frankly, that i would have died to have when i became chancellor. it's i think the economy has got very solid . the economy has got very solid. >> a top lawyer representing a

number of mohamed al—fayed alleged victims claims he did use violence against some women who wanted to speak out . gloria who wanted to speak out. gloria allred told gb news that the former harrods owner made it virtually impossible for victims to report his alleged crimes. at least 60 women have now come forward claiming they were sexually assaulted or raped. >> he used a series of threats against some of the victims , against some of the victims, saying if you tell anybody we know where your family lives. if you tell anybody, they'll be consequences for you. if you tell anybody, you'll never work in london again. and also if you tell anyone, you'll be terminated. and in fact , some of terminated. and in fact, some of the women resisted his sexual advances. and sometimes he used violence against them . violence against them. >> the bbc has been criticised in a new report for their

coverage of the conflict in the middle east. the report accuses the corporation of anti—semitism and making false and damaging claims about israel. bbc management have said they don't recognise the overall characterisation. former bbc executive danny cohen said the corporation was failing in its duty to impartiality. >> bbc is a very trusted news source and it has a commitment to impartiality and a commitment to impartiality and a commitment to accuracy and what this report shows today is that the bbc is consistently and systematically showing bias against israel and failing in its duty to impartiality. >> the lebanese prime minister has said up to 1 million people have been displaced as fighting between israel and the terror group hezbollah continues. overnight, israeli air strikes targeted central beirut for the first time. the terror group the popular front for the liberation of palestine, said three of its

leaders were killed in the strikes . meanwhile, leaders were killed in the strikes. meanwhile, hamas said its leader in lebanon has been killed, along with some members of his family in an airstrike overnight in southern lebanon . overnight in southern lebanon. well, some breaking news now. the bbc has apologised to former strictly come dancing contestant amanda abbington , saying it had amanda abbington, saying it had assessed and upheld some, but not all, of her complaints about giovanni pernice behaviour dunng giovanni pernice behaviour during her time on the show. bbc bosses have upheld six out of 17 allegations, some of which are for giovanni, using swear words . for giovanni, using swear words. tory leadership contender kemi badenoch has defended comments she made over the level of maternity pay, saying her remarks have been misrepresented. it follows an interview in which the shadow housing secretary appeared to

suggest the allowance could be seen as excessive. all three of her leadership rivals have distanced themselves from those comments, but miss badenoch hit back, calling for an honest campaign. >> i've been a minister for women and equalities, i've had three children, i've had maternity leave three times. i don't need anyone to tell me about maternity pay. i have been one of the people fighting for that and i won't have my views misrepresented. >> well, speaking to the gb news gb news this morning, the conservative party chairman said the allowance was not too high. >> the conservative party was the party that brought in statutory maternity pay. so no, i don't think it's excessive and i don't think it's excessive and i think if you talk to organisations like the cbi, they'd say exactly the same thing. >> the duke of sussex is making a rare visit to the uk today to celebrate the achievements and resilience of seriously ill youngsters and their families. prince harry will attend the wellchild awards ceremony in london in his role as the charity's patron , a position he charity's patron, a position he has held for more than 15 years.

the king is believed to be spending time at his balmoral residence. it's thought he hasn't seen harry since the duke rushed to his father's side after the king's cancer diagnosis in february . the late diagnosis in february. the late queen and sir david attenborough have been named our greatest british cultural figures . in british cultural figures. in a survey to mark the 90th anniversary of the british council. the late monarch was voted the country's greatest cultural icon, with 41% selecting her in the survey. sir david attenborough came a close second, with 40% voting for him , second, with 40% voting for him, followed by diana, princess of wales. former prime minister winston churchill and queen frontman freddie mercury . and frontman freddie mercury. and those are your headlines for the moment. we'll have more for you 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. >> right, we will be bringing you some more on that bbc report into into strictly come dancing and giovanni pernice behaviour with the star amanda abbington that's been published. we'll be bringing more to you about that in a moment, but we are going to cross over to birmingham because it is, of course, the conservative party conference and robert jenrick. he's setting out his stall, isn't he? he's one of the four contenders left. he says the party doesn't have a future unless it campaigns to quit the european convention of human rights. he even said leave or die. that's the message the former immigration minister appeared to channel. former prime minister boris johnson calling on the conservative party to get migration done with

a democratic cap on the level of legal migration to the uk. i say you know, channelled boris johnson, perhaps with the rhetoric and actually with the action. boris johnson had quite action. boris johnson had quite a liberal policy when it came to immigration. but let's go back to gb news political correspondent katherine forster, who's joined the gb news stand by former conservative secretary of state theresa villiers. thank you very much indeed, catherine. please do take it away . please do take it away. >> yes. good afternoon. emily. i'm joined by theresa villiers. thank you for talking to us on gb news this afternoon. you were, of course, mp for chipping barnet for nearly 20 years. you were environment secretary under bofis were environment secretary under boris johnson and you had other positions as well. what do you think in a nutshell went wrong and also, you came in in 2005, didn't you? when david cameron surprised everybody by coming in

as the outsider and ending up as tory leader ? could this current tory leader? could this current contest end up with quite an unexpected result? >> it could. i mean, there's one thing you can guarantee from conservative leadership elections is that there are many twists and turns which aren't expected, and particularly with a very small first round electorate from the mps. a few changes of mind here and there, and we could see an outcome that people are not expecting at all. so i think there's everything for the four candidates to play for. absolutely no sort of certainties as to who is going to end up top of the top of the pile. but going back to the first part of your question about what went wrong, we lost people's trust and confidence on the economy . and also we ended the economy. and also we ended up with a high tax burden. there were there were good reasons for that worst health emergency for a hundred years being a primary one. but i think the combination

of those things was pretty toxic for us. and that led to the switch to reform, which was so disastrous for our electoral outcome. >> robert jenrick seems to be of the impression, certainly his team are, that he's going to get to the final two. he is by far the most sort of hardcore on migration. he's saying that he would, if prime minister, go out of the echr immediately without a referendum. he's saying that getting migration done is essential and then that you can move on to other immigration, other issues like the economy, the nhs and where do you stand on that? and can you detach an issue like migration from the nhs and the economy? all these things are interlinked. surely migration was a factor at the general election, clearly,

because the conservatives we promise to limit numbers and they'd gone up significantly. >> so i can understand why robert and all the leadership candidates are reflecting on how we put that right. but that was, i think, a fundamental contribution to the lack of trust people had in the general election . the solution is election. the solution is difficult. certainly, robert is right that the echr is causing significant problems in controlling our borders, but leaving it is a very big step. i mean, my view is we should absolutely, before contemplating that step, try to renegotiate it at an international level, because it's not just us that are struggling with the way it's now, operating far beyond the scope of what its original authors would have expected. but you will have to hear from the candidates what they believe the solutions are on that. >> nothing simple as you say. a crisis across europe, really. and how to deal with this. and let's talk a bit about kemi

badenoch. she's also seen as well seen as the members favourite. if she gets that far, she's set the cat among the pigeons yesterday , didn't she? pigeons yesterday, didn't she? with seeming to suggest that maternity pay was excessive. now she says she's been misinterpreted. and what do you make of what she said ? because make of what she said? because people are not having enough babies. people are struggling to get on the housing market. and is this going to win her favour with younger voters? the sort of attitude that. well, she said , attitude that. well, she said, people always used to have more babies before maternity pay even existed. >> i was listening to the interview as i was driving up to the conference yesterday, and it was clear that kemi was making a point about overall business regulation . i don't believe for regulation. i don't believe for a moment that she was saying that we should cut maternity pay, that we should cut maternity pay, and clearly that's not her intention and that's not what she would do if she became leader of the conservative party and prime minister in due course. so i think this is it seems to me to be a bit of a

confected row . and so i think confected row. and so i think kemi is right to, to just seek to move on from it. and undoubtedly in the heat of a leadership battle, these things get tend to get blown up out of all proportion. >> she's some people in her team are fearful that the others might sort of conspire to keep her out of the final two, because they believe that if kemi badenoch gets to the final two, she's going to win and are there enough conservative mps? are there enough votes to do that sort of dirty tricks jiggery pokery that sort of dirty tricks jiggery pokery that tories have sometimes had a taste for ? or do sometimes had a taste for? or do you think that's not going to be an option here? >> it is a very machiavellian electorate. they're certainly capable of shifting votes around for tactical reasons, and i must say, whilst i'm very sad no longer to be mp for barnet, i'm not sorry that i don't have to be involved in in those kinds of difficult choices, but anyone

who's thinking of doing that, i think runs a real risk. one only has to look back to the ill fated portillo campaign in 2001. i'm old enough to remember that one. and you know his supporters supposedly voted tactically and then he didn't actually get enough votes to come through the eventual ballot. so i hope mps will vote for the candidate they think will be the best leader and not mess around with these kind of more manipulative approaches to how they cast their vote. >> yes, a couple of votes here or there could potentially have very big implications, couldn't they? theresa villiers, thank you so much for talking to us today on gb news. we appreciate it.thank today on gb news. we appreciate it. thank you. >> good to be with you . >> good to be with you. >> good to be with you. >> indeed, katherine forster and theresa villiers there at birmingham where the conservative party conference is currently taking place . we're currently taking place. we're going to be catching up with tom harwood, who's been out and about scouring the conference hall, finding out more and more for you about what's going on with that leadership contest. but we do have some breaking

news. the bbc has apologised to former strictly come dancing contestant amanda abbington, saying it had assessed and upheld some, but not all, of her complaints about giovanni pernice behaviour during her time on the show. now, bbc bosses have upheld six out of 17 allegations, some of which are for giovanni, using swear words. but bosses have ruled mr panizza was not abusive, threatening or intimidating, which is very interesting. they also said there was absolutely no aggressive or physical conduct. okay, well joining me now from outside the bbc is gb news reporter adam cherry. adam, thank you very much indeed . how thank you very much indeed. how did we get here and what does this report actually say. >> so the report says it's a result of a four month investigation. amanda abbington being an actress appearing on the series last year with giovanni pernice . and he she giovanni pernice. and he she accused him of contributing to a toxic workplace harassment bullying both verbally and indeed physically. although as you say, this report now finds

that the allegations of any physical contact have not been upheld. nonetheless, they have apologised to amanda abbington. i'll just read you a short part of that statement. at the time, although the production team took steps address the issues as they understood them, ultimately these were not enough. that is why the measures we have taken to further strengthen our existing protocols are so important. the bbc has already taken extensive steps to enhance our duty of care for everyone on the show. so that has included things like chaperones for the contestants, which, you know, have been in place for the new series, which began a couple of weeks ago, and giovanni pernice no longer works for the uk version of the show, although he has now picked up employment on the italian version. but nonetheless, an apology to amanda abbington as you say, six of those complaints upheld mainly to do with swearing and innuendo rather than anything physical. and they said, i'll just read you another short segment of it. and they said, we want to apologise to amanda

abbington and thank her for coming forward and taking part. we know this would not have been an easy thing to do. so there we are, four months, finally, a resolution and an apology. >> so hang on. he's found. he's found guilty. he's been found guilty of essentially swearing and being a little bit intimidatory in that respect , intimidatory in that respect, but no physical abuse at all. no. no threatening behaviour. is that right? so does that mean that right? so does that mean that amanda was was lying in some of her accusations? is that what the suggestion is here? >> we'll need to go through the report in full, but at the moment it's purely verbal, describe some some of those attacks were described as belittling. so bullying rather than physical intimidation, as was initially claimed. >> okay. but with a new season of bbc strictly this is a bit of a bit of a cloud over bbc and its flagship programme. thank you very much indeed, adam cherry, for bringing us that. thatis cherry, for bringing us that. that is that latest bombshell report into this strictly

bullying probe. now tom harwood is at conference for us. of course, he is my wonderful co—host, tom, you're there . co—host, tom, you're there. you've been chatting away to everyone, finding out what's going on. tell me, what's the atmosphere like there ? atmosphere like there? >> yes, i'm live on the exhibition floor here in birmingham. and i have to say , birmingham. and i have to say, it's pretty blooming busy. it doesn't really match up with some of the reports we've been reading this morning that this is a thinner conference. i think to some extent there are fewer lobbyists here. obviously there are. it's this is now a party in opposition. it's going to be five years before this party can get back into government, in all likelihood. and they might not even then. but clearly there are party members here who've bought their tickets when this party was in government and there are some exhibition stalls as well. i'd say a few fewer than at the labour party conference. but just as interesting. and what is most interesting, perhaps, is the party candidates, those leadership candidates, they have their stalls. one of the most

exciting has been that of tom tugendhat. now he's a bit of an outsider in the race, but he's got some pretty fun, campaign. goodies, guys, can you tell me what are the best puns that the tom tugendhat merch stand has got to tom which we can do one for you if you want. >> tom. we've had two gunton, which is unfortunately all gone. in our hack boxes. we had two grand boost. we've got the two gun totes for friends who want to be a two gun tote. we've got the two gun tarts as well over there. >> do you know what? can i have? a two gun tart? a tom two gun tart? now, this is always dangerous to do on live television to do. you know what i might take one, one bite, you know, hold this for me. for a second. i'm going to emily. i'm going to have a toucan tart for you. there's no shortage of puns here at the tom tugendhat stall. oh, no , i don't know quite why oh, no, i don't know quite why i did this . because it is my job did this. because it is my job to talk. so i'm going to

actually let someone else do some talking because you've got some talking because you've got some tattoos there we have. >> would you like one, tom? would you like one? >> let's do a tattoo . where >> let's do a tattoo. where shall. where shall i get this tattoo on my arm . tattoo on my arm. >> on your hand? on your arm. >> on your hand? on your arm. >> great. let's do my hand . >> great. let's do my hand. okay. so, this is a tattoo of a heart. sort of a classic. a classic tattoo, sort of that i. i might get if i were rather a bit harder than i am . who has bit harder than i am. who has who's been getting these tattoos? i saw anne—marie trevelyan had one earlier on, >> a fair few journalists have had them as well. a lot of our team have had them. some of our team have had them. some of our team have had them. some of our team have got them on their legs and their necks. they're just everywhere, really. >> and you have big waggling fingers as well. these big foam fingers. have you got any here? >> i think you do . oh, it's by >> i think you do. oh, it's by my leg. it's by my by me. sam, they're great. >> oh, there we go. oh, that is tremendous stuff, here we go. we're having a the big

unveiling. this. this is the moment of truth . wow. look at moment of truth. wow. look at that. there we go. that is a that. there we go. that is a thatis that. there we go. that is a that is a tom tugendhat, and of course, i might sign off for you, emily, with a waggling finger, if i can grab that. look, look at that. i mean , what look, look at that. i mean, what more. what more do you want at a conservative party conference than tattoos , tarts and even than tattoos, tarts and even waggling fingers? back to you. >> i mean, i guess it's quite fitting, seeing as your name is tom. you can get away with the tattoo and the. and the thumb. the finger as well, because it is your name. there you go, tom. and also, i have a suspicion that that toucan tart was actually a bakewell tart, but i won't i won't , i won't, you won't i won't, i won't, you know, have a row, start a row overit. know, have a row, start a row over it . tom harwood. thank you over it. tom harwood. thank you very much indeed. we'll catch up with you later. you are at birmingham for the party conference for the conservatives okay. well, we've got lots more coming up on today's show. you're watching good afternoon britain. of course you are. asylum seekers caught out . it asylum seekers caught out. it turns out that a record number of migrants are posing as children , and they're being children, and they're being treated more leniently by border force. we'll have more on that

after

break. well, one thing that the conservatives are going to have to get a grip on is the borders. if they're going to return to power, because it turns out that a record number of asylum seekers were caught posing as children in the first half of this year. people traffickers are encouraging undocumented individuals to lie to be treated more leniently by the system. yes, it turns out that more than 1300 migrants who originally claimed to be minors were later judged to be aged 18 years or over up until june of this year. this comes as aspiring royal marine tom roberts was tragically murdered in march 2020 by a 19 year old asylum seeker who told border force he was a 14 year old child okay, so do border force need to be tougher to protect the british

public? well, we're now joined by former chief immigration officer kevin saunders and kevin, this is quite a shocking number actually . 1317 migrants number actually. 1317 migrants claiming to be minors at the border just claiming to be minors at the borderjust in claiming to be minors at the border just in the first claiming to be minors at the borderjust in the first half of border just in the first half of this year. according to the report, mostly from afghanistan, sudan , vietnam, eritrea as well . sudan, vietnam, eritrea as well. this is this is becoming pretty common. >> yes , it is. and it's always >> yes, it is. and it's always been a problem. and in fact, you're you're right that border force do tread a little bit lighter around people that that claim to be children. because if we get it wrong then we're absolutely slaughtered, it's a very, very difficult part of the job, and we do have to rely now a lot more on professionals from certainly from kent social services , when we're dealing services, when we're dealing with children or people claiming

to be children. yeah. >> i mean, kevin, from your experience, what actually happens ? so if someone rocks up, happens? so if someone rocks up, they've come over in a in a dinghy to dover. they arrive, they're taken in by the by the, they're taken in by the by the, the border force and everyone there, there's a suspicion that actually they're not a child, even though they're claiming to be a child, does that happen at the border, or is this does this come up through the asylum claim process? >> no, it will come. it will come up initially at the border, and it it is difficult. i mean, in my day, i would have to make a decision on whether somebody was a minor or whether they weren't a minor. and that , that weren't a minor. and that, that is that that's not an easy thing to do. now we want to do more things like x rays and dental examinations. but i'm afraid people are against that as well. so we're stuck. we really are

stuck. it is you wouldn't believe how difficult it actually is . yeah. actually is. yeah. >> i mean, i'm just looking back to 2018. there was an asylum seeker who claimed to be 15 years old, and he joined a school. he spent six weeks as a year 11 student in ipswich, fellow pupils asked, how is there a 30 year old man in my maths class that was reported in on the sky news website back in 2018? i mean, could it actually be that we have, i mean, have border force got better at this? have our asylum system got better at judging who is a child and who's an adult? it's quite important for safeguarding other people. >> it's it is and we are we are getting better. i mean, i was extremely lucky when i was working. i had two ladies on my, one of my teams who were excellent at working out how children or people claiming to be children were. and i relied on them heavily for their

guidance. and we got it right. most of the time. but it is difficult and we hear stories all the time of people who have supped all the time of people who have slipped through the net, got into schools. there was another one who was, over 18, who was chasing young girls . chasing young girls. >> yeah. i mean, just lastly , >> yeah. i mean, just lastly, where are we in terms of the checks? because i do remember there was a debate around whether there should be checks on on teeth or bones or, or that sort of thing. and a lot of groups thought that that was against fundamental civil liberties, human rights, etc. i don't know what the latest is in terms of the technology. >> well, that's what that's what we would like to do. we would like to be able to do that because it gives us much more guidance . but because it gives us much more guidance. but as because it gives us much more guidance . but as you say, the, guidance. but as you say, the, the, the left, if you like, are dead against this. they say it's an invasion of privacy. and what

have you. the trouble is, it's an invasion of privacy until you get an 18 year sorry, until you get an 18 year sorry, until you get an 18 year sorry, until you get a child sexually molested, raped or murdered, then. then we can't win either. so we need to be. we need to be able to do these examinations of people claiming to be children who are in that sort of category 15, 16, 17, 18 category that we have doubts about. >> yeah. i mean, whatever you think about borders, i think most people should agree that it's pretty important to know the age of someone who's potentially living in your country. i mean, that seems pretty obvious to most sensible people, i imagine. but thank you very much indeed . kevin very much indeed. kevin saunders, former chief immigration officer great to get your thoughts on this. that was a record number of asylum seekers are claiming, wrongly, that they are in fact, children. thank you very much indeed. well, this is good afternoon britain on gb news. we've got lots more coming up on today's

show. we're going to be back at the tory party conference. tom harwood is going to be joined by the leader of the welsh conservatives. we'll find out what he has to say next. after the headlines . the headlines. >> well good afternoon. it's 130 and the latest headlines from the gb news centre with more on that. breaking news about the long awaited report into the bbc and strictly. and it has apologised to the actress amanda abingdon over the allegations that she made it has upheld some of those allegations, but not all of the allegations that were made by amanda abbington during her time on strictly come dancing. some of the complaints that were upheld related to giovanni pernice, the professional dancers use of swear words . well, former

swear words. well, former chancellor jeremy swear words. well, former chancellorjeremy hunt has hit out at what he calls labour's lies over the economic inheritance. speaking at the tory party conference, he took particular aim at his successor, rachel reeves, describing her claims of a £22 billion black hole as fictitious . hole as fictitious. >> the biggest lies we've had since labour came to office is this nonsense about having the worst economic inheritance since the second world war. i mean, thatis the second world war. i mean, that is a legacy, frankly, that i would have died to have when i became chancellor. it's i think the economy has got very solid . the economy has got very solid. >> former chancellor jeremy hunt >> former chancellorjeremy hunt has hit out at what he calls labour's lies about their economic. and i've just given you that one, haven't i, speaking at the tory party conference, he took particular aim, and we're still on that one, a top us. lawyer has

representing a number of mohamed al fayed's alleged victims, claims he did use violence against some women who wanted to speak out. gloria allred told gb news that the former harrods owner made it virtually impossible for victims to report his alleged crimes. at least 60 women have now come forward claiming they were sexually assaulted or raped . assaulted or raped. >> he used a series of threats against some of the victims, saying if you tell anybody we know where your family lives , if know where your family lives, if you tell anybody, there'll be consequences for you. if you tell anybody, you'll never work in london again. and also if you tell anyone, you'll be terminated. and in fact, some of the women, resisted his sexual advances, and sometimes he used violence against them . violence against them. >> the lebanese prime minister has said up to 1 million people

have been displaced as fighting between israel and the terror group hezbollah continues . group hezbollah continues. overnight, israeli airstrikes targeted central beirut for the first time. the terror group, the popular front for the liberation of palestine, said three of its leaders were killed in the strikes. meanwhile, hamas said its leader in lebanon has been killed along with some members of his family in an airstrike overnight in southern lebanon . the legendary country lebanon. the legendary country music singer and actor kris kristofferson has died at the age of 88, a family spokesperson said. the star passed away peacefully at his home in hawaii on saturday. he won three grammys for best country song, help me make it through the night and starred alongside barbra streisand in the 1976 film a star is born, for which, of course, he won a golden globe .

of course, he won a golden globe. well, there you go. you're right up to date. here's hoping for a smoother headline sequence in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone , sign up to news smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com >> forward

>> okay, well, it's 138. good afternoon britain. and one of the many topics of conversation at the conservative party conference will be how the party manages to rebuild in wales. they of course, lost all 12 of their welsh mps in july's general election. now the leader of the welsh conservatives is with tom harwood now to tell us exactly how he plans to do that, how he intends to try and all of that support in wales. tom, please do take it away .

please do take it away. >> oh, sorry. yes, that's right emily, i'm here with andrew rt davies, the leader of the welsh conservatives, and andrew, the conservatives, and andrew, the conservatives lost every single welsh mp at the last general election. what went wrong? >> well, sadly, we didn't return any conservative mps, but we did come second in the popular vote. there are no prizes for coming second in the popular vote, as we've seen with no mps. but that gives us a good platform to rebuild on and on thursday , for rebuild on and on thursday, for example, of last week, there was a council by—election in the town of rhyl, a county council by—election. labour held that ward with 50% of the popular vote. last time it was contested in 2022. we took that ward on thursday with a conservative councillor for the very first time, so we're learning the lessons from the message that the public sent us on july the 4th. we don't underestimate the challenge ahead for us, but we're enthused about the 2026 senate elections and we're going to work night and day to win those senate elections and

reflect on the message that the electorate sent us on july the 4th. >> why is it that wales is the only constituent part of great britain that doesn't have any tories? there are tories in scotland. there are tories in england . why not wales? england. why not wales? >> well, sadly not enough people voted for us in those constituencies. it's a simple equation, but we got between 17 and 18% of the popular vote and sadly we didn't get any mps in scotland. our colleagues got 12% of the popular vote but returned five mps, and because their vote was concentrated , they got their was concentrated, they got their mps and i wish that they'd got more as well. and i'm sure they do. we, as i said, have listened. we have learned the lessons sent to us on july the 4th. and as i said, that council by—election on of last thursday in a constituency of the vale of clwyd in rhyl, the town where we won that by—election, shows that the green shoots are there . we the green shoots are there. we need to nurture those green shoots and build positively and proactively so that people look at us as the party of change in wales. >> now, of course, you lead the

conservatives in the senate and the senate is electing msps on a much more proportional system than westminster elects mps. does that mean by your logic, given that it's more proportional, you've got more votes than the scottish tories did, surely you should do better at the senate elections? >> we had a great 2021 election where we returned a record number of msps to cardiff bay. and if you look at the profile of the group, i have the privilege to lead. it is by far the youngest group in the senate and also it is also the only group that has two muslim members in there as well. so looking at the makeup of the group, we're the most diverse group, we're the most diverse group and importantly, we want to be in government come 2026. >> but the polls aren't looking good. come 2026, it looks like you could fall down to fourth place. your vote is being eaten into by reform, which seems to be rising in wales. >> well, i don't see that at all. i see it taking this positive message, building on the strong message that the electorate sent us in july the 4th, which was you need to shape

up and make sure you speak to us. and are you a united party? and we are a united party, working night and day for the people of wales. if you had conservative mps in westminster and a conservative government, we wouldn't see the cruel policy of the withdrawal of the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, for example, where in wales 400,000 households are going to lose that benefit at a cost of £110 million. labour's own figures say. across the uk there could be 4000 premature deaths. we wouldn't have implemented that. but yet people voted for labour mps who actually voted for it. so it's important that you get welsh conservative mps back and you get welsh conservative mps back to make that difference. >> we've reported on the chaos in the welsh labour party quite a bit. the defenestration of their leader lasting a little longer than a lettuce . but, longer than a lettuce. but, clearly ever since devolution was instituted in wales, there has only ever been a labour first minister in wales. despite the low growth, high taxes, low

unemployment, disastrous nhs people still continue to vote for the labour party in wales. does that not say that your party isn't doing enough, isn't professional enough? isn't getting your message across well enough? people keep voting for this party that that the conservatives in westminster always point to, as an example of how not to govern and that's a fair criticism, because whilst we've been growing at senate elections and as i said, the 2021 senate election was the most successful that we've fought, we still didn't break labour's stranglehold on wales, but it's a stranglehold that's supported by plaid cymru and the liberal democrats, who give them that majority to vote in a government in wales. >> now we've had 20mph speed limits in wales, which has enthused people to actually look at what the senate does in their name because they've been so angered by that policy. we've seen the winter fuel allowance taken away from our pensioners and importantly, the labour

party, along with plaid cymru and the liberal democrats and indeed supported by reform , want indeed supported by reform, want to create 36 more politicians in cardiff bay at a cost of £120 million. we're the only party that voted not to have that to happen, and we want that £120 million to pay for more nurses, doctors and teachers in our schools. and if you did that, you'd have 650 more nurses on the wards of wales. >> now, we don't have much time at all, but in a in a sentence, if you would a comment on those job losses in port talbot . job losses in port talbot. >> cruel, terribly cruel because port talbot is a steel making town. and ultimately, when you see tata building blast furnaces in india and they're shutting the blast furnaces in port talbot, there's many workers wanting a political party to stand up for them . we're doing stand up for them. we're doing that as welsh conservatives and we'll continue to do that. but it is the conservatives who have delivered the money for our furnaces. so steelmaking will continue in port talbot. but it's a cruel blow for the town of port talbot today that that blast furnace is shutting. >> well , andrew rt

blast furnace is shutting. >> well, andrew rt davies, blast furnace is shutting. >> well , andrew rt davies, the >> well, andrew rt davies, the leader of the welsh conservatives, really appreciate your time here on good afternoon britain. emily, back to you. thank you very much indeed. >> tom harwood there in birmingham. i should say that at about 2:00, chris, our very own christopher hope is going to be hosting q&a sessions with members and people at the conservative party conference for tom tugendhat and kemi badenoch. so we're going to dip into that a little bit in the final hour of the show, and martin daubney will pick up as well. i also want to let you know liz truss has been opening her and making waves at tory party conference. i'll reveal exactly

break. welcome back. you're watching listening to good afternoon britain. it is now 149 and i will reveal what liz truss has been saying about some of her colleagues. but we're going to turn our attention to this bbc report into strictly come dancing. it says it's assessed and upheld some, but not all, of

the complaints made by amanda abbington, one of the contestants on the show, about giovanni pernice behaviour dunng giovanni pernice behaviour during her time on the show. now, bbc bosses have upheld six out of 17 allegations, some of which are for giovanni, using swear words. but bosses have ruled mr penis was not abusive, threatening or intimidating. they also said there was no aggressive or physical contact, so let's make sense of this. joining me now from outside the bbc is gb news reporter adam cherry. adam, i understand we've had statements from both sides on this. both appear to say that they've been vindicated. so who has been vindicated here? >> well, i've read the statements first, and perhaps the viewers can make up their own minds. so this is first from giovanni pernice. the dancer. his spokesperson says, we are pleased that this six month review has not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour by giovanni. now i'll just interrupt and say, of course, that they did find six allegations were upheld regarding threatening language or belittling language, as is

described in the report. nonetheless, a spokesperson goes on. giovanni is relieved that the overwhelming majority of allegations out to the bbc have not been upheld, and looks forward to continuing his work on dancing with the stars in italy this season. so he has, of course, left the british version of the show, but is now doing the same thing over in italy. meanwhile, amanda abbington has released a statement herself. she says despite the vile abuse she received from certain members of the public by coming forward. so she claims i've never regretted coming forward. and today's apology from the bbc is a vindication of my complaint. it's not just a vindication for me, it's a vindication for me, it's a vindication for me, it's a vindication for the other people who have contacted me since i made my complaint to express my concern. so both trying to claim victory here, as we said, six of those 17 complaints upheld, but most of them thrown out. the only ones that were upheld were those over threatening or belittling language, as i say. so an interesting one. >> yeah. very interesting. thanks very much, adam cherry outside the bbc. we're going to

speak to showbiz reporter stephanie takyi. stephanie, thank you very much. i can't be the only one that's a little bit confused. both appear to be claiming victory. both are vindicated. so where exactly are we? >> you're right. confused is the right word, emily. because it's not been a clear victory for either amanda abbington or giovanni pernice. for him . out giovanni pernice. for him. out of the 17 allegations that were made against him, six have been upheld. but the bbc have said they did not find that he was guilty of threatening behaviour, bullying or sexual harassment. so in that sense, yes, he's been cleared of the major allegations that were against him. but there's still things, minor things such as him swearing for amanda abbington. now she hasn't come out to say, you know what? this was a clear victory for her. but instead i think she's been satisfied that the bbc have been satisfied that the bbc have been forced to apologise that she did experience something on strictly. she sees it as a

victory in the sense that now past contestants , future past contestants, future contestants, she set up this climate. now where if people do want to complain against their dancer , they can. so in her dancer, they can. so in her eyes, that has been a victory. >> i mean, stephanie, i don't know if you know, but had she actually accused him of physical abuse in any way, there were bits where she said he crossed the line in terms of when they were dancing together. >> he or she also accused him of sending an inappropriate video, which she deemed quite sexual, which she deemed quite sexual, which the bbc have now come out and said actually, that was just banter , joke, workplace banter banter, joke, workplace banter between the two. so i think the kind of escalation she was hoping for in these allegations hasn't actually come to fruition. >> stephanie, the bbc has quite a lot of scandal going on at the moment. i know there's a new strictly come dancing series at the moment. was the first one this weekend? i'm not sure.

sorry, i'm not on top of these these types of things, but is there a bit of a cloud over the show or are things going on as normal? >> there has been a cloud over the show because, you know, despite these findings now, it hasn't been put to bed. the show hasn't been put to bed. the show has been forever tainted and scarred, and this series now we're seeing that chaperones have to be involved in the training sessions. there's a welfare producer for both the dancers and the celebrity contestants. so strictly now, you know, people kind of see the truth behind it, you know, people kind of see the truth behind it , that it can get truth behind it, that it can get intense in these training sessions and that celebrities, some of them are finding it, that it's affecting their mental health. so i think from some of the people i've spoken to who are taking part in the show, they found it quite kind of difficult series to be a part of this year. >> yeah, maybe people don't realise just how tough it is doing some of these shows. thank you very much indeed. stephanie takyi great to speak to you as always. right? we've got lots more coming up on the show at the top of the hour. we are going to be seeing christopher hope. he's hosting a q&a at the conservative party conference

with tom tugendhat and kemi badenoch. we'll check in after the break. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on gb news >> hi there and welcome along to the latest forecast from the met office for gb news. cloudy for many of us during the rest of today with further heavy rain across some central parts of the uk. showers in the far north and the far south. away from the centre of this area of low pressure, which is slowly moving east but on the northern flank of this low, that's where we've got this band of heavy and persistent rain across northern england in particular yorkshire and lincolnshire during the evening could cause some issues, and that rain band slowly sinks south to bring further wet weather into those areas that were so badly affected by rain last week. so that's the midlands parts of east anglia now that rain is moving through. but showers elsewhere across the country. some clear spells in

the west and here temperatures will dip into the single figures, but it will be a bright start to the day across northern ireland, the far southwest. so cornwall, seeing some sunny spells, albeit with some showers moving into parts of the south—west. wales also a lot of cloud around, but a few showers as well. now for northwest england, western scotland and northern ireland. that's where the clearest skies will be. first thing. plenty of sunshine on offer, just a few showers pushing into the northeast of scotland, interspersed by some brighter weather and a brisk wind continues across eastern england in particular. and that east coast of the uk will see a lot of thick and low cloud through the day and further spells of rain. some of that rain moving into the midlands at times, but it's going to be less heavy. it's just going to add to what will feel like a dreary day in the east and across central parts of england. brighter skies to the west, highs of 17 celsius in the south—west, where we get some sunshine . otherwise it's some sunshine. otherwise it's going to feel on the cool side

with the brisk northeasterly breeze. certainly feeling cool and unpleasant in the east and across some parts of central england. but the weather is cheering up through thursday and friday. plenty of sunny spells emerge , particularly towards the emerge, particularly towards the northwest . northwest. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:00 on monday the 30th of september. i'm emily carver and i'm tom harwood live from the conservative party conference. yes, and that conference kicked off today in birmingham. the shadow chancellor, jeremy hunt, he's accused labour of lying about the £22 billion financial black hole. tory leadership candidate kemi badenoch. she's under fire for suggesting maternity pay has gone too far. our political editor,

christopher hope, is going to be asking questions in just a few moments. we will tune in to that as we get it. and scandal at strictly giovanni pernice at the centre of attention as the long awaited report into bullying and misconduct has been released by the bbc. the bombshell report comes weeks after the new strictly season kicked off without giovanni. we'll be live outside broadcasting house with the latest . and does sir keir the latest. and does sir keir starmer have a bit of a woman problem in his party? while rosie duffield thinks thinks so? she resigned as a labour mp over the weekend. she slammed the party for pursuing cruel policies and claimed the lads are in charge and bad news for most of us. heavy rain is set to continue as the met office issues two fresh weather warnings for heavy rain across some parts of the uk. could there be even more flooding? and are you being affected ?

are you being affected? okay, well, tom, i've just been reading liz truss . she's been reading liz truss. she's been making headlines again. she's saying too many conservatives are going woke, went, woke to try and win votes and it didn't work. and they're all far too progressive and fuddy duddy. what's all this about? >> yes, liz truss is here today, but she is actually jetting off to australia a little bit later this week. so this is the only day that she is really a presence here at this conference. she was was in conversation with the telegraph's tim stanley at a very well attended event a little bit earlier on today, and ihave little bit earlier on today, and i have to say, as she came out of that event, there was a throng of journalists and party members around her, a real sort of centre of action here at this conference. and perhaps that's because rishi sunak is no longer here. he went back last night after making his one and only speech at this conference. so the conference is looking for other sort of focal points. now,

of course, some of those are the people campaigning to become conservative party leader . but conservative party leader. but the former prime minister, liz truss, speaking at that event and making her way through this conference, was clearly a big focal point to still making waves even after losing office and losing her seat, she probably still has her fans there at the tory party conference. >> i'm sure people who thought perhaps she was the one that got away, others not so much. but yes , rishi sunak leaving after yes, rishi sunak leaving after just just one speech. that's very interesting. he wants to leave the floor, presumably for the tory contenders or something like that. we are going to be checking in with christopher hope, who's going to be hosting these big q and a's for the tory leadership hopefuls. but for now, thank you very much indeed. tom harwood please sit at home, get in touch with us. gbnews.com/yoursay please do. but let's get the headlines with mark . white. mark. white. >> good afternoon. it's 2:03. the latest headlines from the gb

news centre. the bbc has apologised to former strictly come dancing contestant amanda abbington, saying it had assessed and upheld some, but not all, of her complaints about giovanni pernice behaviour dunng giovanni pernice behaviour during her time on the show. bbc management have upheld six out of 17 allegations, some of which are for the professional dancers use of swear words. well, in a statement this afternoon, mr panichi said he was pleased the bbc had not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour by him . former behaviour by him. former chancellor jeremy behaviour by him. former chancellorjeremy hunt has hit out at what he calls labour's lies about their economic inheritance. speaking at the tory party conference, he took particular aim at the new chancellor , rachel reeves, chancellor, rachel reeves, describing her claims of a £22 billion black hole as fictitious. >> he the biggest lies we've had

since labour came to office is this nonsense about having the worst economic inheritance since the second world war. i mean, thatis the second world war. i mean, that is a legacy, frankly, that i would have died to have when i became chancellor. it's i think the economy has got very solid tory leadership contender kemi badenoch has defended comments she made over the level of maternity pay , saying her maternity pay, saying her remarks have been misrepresented. >> it follows an interview in which the shadow housing secretary appeared to suggest the allowance could be seen as excessive. all three of her leadership rivals have distanced themselves from those comments, but miss badenoch hit back , but miss badenoch hit back, calling for an honest campaign . calling for an honest campaign. >> minister for women and equalities i have had three children, i've had maternity leave, three times. i don't need anyone to tell me about maternity pay . i have been one maternity pay. i have been one of the people fighting for that and i won't have my views

misrepresented. >> a top lawyer representing a number of mohamed al—fayed alleged victims claims he did use violence against some women who wanted to speak out . gloria who wanted to speak out. gloria allred told gb news that the former harrods owner made it virtually impossible for victims to report his alleged crimes. virtually impossible for victims to report his alleged crimes . at to report his alleged crimes. at least 60 women have now come forward claiming they were sexually assaulted or raped . sexually assaulted or raped. >> he used a series of threats against some of the victims, saying if you tell anybody, we know where your family lives. if you tell anybody, there'll be consequences for you. if you tell anybody, you'll never work in london again. and also if you tell anyone, you'll be terminated. and in fact , some of terminated. and in fact, some of the women resisted his sexual advances. and sometimes he used violence against them . violence against them. >> the bbc has been criticised in a new report for their

coverage of the conflict in the middle east. the report accuses the corporation of anti—semitism and making false and damaging claims about israel. bbc management have said they don't recognise the overall characterisation. former bbc executive danny cohen said the corporation was failing in its duty to impartiality. >> this is a very trusted news source and it has a commitment to impartiality and a commitment to impartiality and a commitment to accuracy . and what this to accuracy. and what this report shows today is that the bbc is consistently and systematically showing bias against israel and failing in its duty to impartiality . its duty to impartiality. >> the lebanese prime minister has said. up to 1 million people have now been displaced as fighting between israel and the terror group hezbollah continues. overnight israeli airstrikes targeted central beirut for the first time. the

uk government has now confirmed this afternoon that it secured more seats on commercial aircraft, and is again calling on british nationals to leave lebanon . the duke of sussex is lebanon. the duke of sussex is making a rare visit to the uk today to celebrate the achievements and resilience of seriously ill youngsters and their families. seriously ill youngsters and theirfamilies. prince seriously ill youngsters and their families. prince harry will attend the wellchild awards ceremony in london in his role as the charity's patron. a position he has held for more than 15 years. the king is believed to be spending time at his balmoral residence. it's thought he hasn't seen harry since the duke rushed to his father's side after the king's cancer diagnosis in february . cancer diagnosis in february. will the late queen and sir david attenborough have been named our greatest british

cultural figures? in a survey to mark the 90th anniversary of the british council, the late monarch was voted the country's greatest cultural icon , with 41% greatest cultural icon, with 41% selecting her in the survey. sir david attenborough came a close second with 40% voting for him, followed by diana , princess of followed by diana, princess of wales and former prime minister winston churchill . and those are winston churchill. and those are the headlines for the moment. we're 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 gb news. >> dot com. forward slash alerts . >> dot com. forward slash alerts. >> dot com. forward slash alerts. >> okay welcome back. it is now 209 and of course there are four leadership hopefuls for the

conservative party kemi badenoch, james cleverly, tom tugendhat and who's the other one? who's the other one? robert jenrick, of course. let's go back to tom harwood , who is back to tom harwood, who is going to be joined by a conservative mp for bridgewater, sir ashley fox. is there a feeling at the conference that there's one man or woman who's going to nab this, or is it or is it all to play for? are people going around with badges showing who they support ? showing who they support? >> friend kits, lanyards, you name it. but of course, it does seem like it's a pretty open race. you ask five different people who you think are going to be in that final two. you'll probably get 10 to 15 different answers, but i'm delighted to be joined here by sir ashley fox, conservative mp for bridgewater, of course, newly elected in the last election you were one of the lucky ones, but you're backing james cleverly. why? yes. >> so i think he's the person best able to unite the conservative party and to lead us to victory. >> why did we lose the last

election? well, we were disunited. we weren't listening to the people and we didn't deliver on the things we said we would. and i think james is the best person to put that right how. >> now. >> james cleverly's candidacy stayed still in the last two numbers of rounds of mps voting. everyone else went up by a bit, but there's been some stagnation there in terms of the momentum. why was that? >> i don't think that matters. what matters is getting him through to the next round. and i think we'll do that at each stage. different mps might vote for different candidates for different reasons to see who they want to put through. so we're down to four, and after conference we narrow that down to three and then to down two. and i'm going to help james do that by putting forward the positive reasons why he should be our next leader and what are those positive reasons. so as i said , he's the person best able said, he's the person best able to unite the party. but he also knows how our party works. he was our party chairman during the 2019 general election. that was a very successful election.

and he's also got heavyweight government experience. he's been foreign secretary and he's been home secretary. he's not only a safe pair of hands in these troubled times, but he's also charismatic. he's a great media presenter and he knows how to communicate with people. >> he is a lovely guy and everyone says he's one of the nicest people in politics. but when he was home secretary, migration skyrocketed . how does migration skyrocketed. how does he defend that record? >> well, he was home secretary for just over a year. i don't think he was entirely responsible for that. but look, as a conservative party, we messed up. we allowed immigration to get too high. we introduced that points based system , copying australia. system, copying australia. that's right. in principle. but we then set those points too low . we then set those points too low. we allowed too many people to go in. and although we took corrective measures, they were too little and they were too late . so i think that's a lesson late. so i think that's a lesson learned for us. i'm sure that's something james would

acknowledge. >> now, people say that james is the underdog in this race. of course, it looks like and has looked like the two front runners have been robert jenrick and kemi badenoch . what do you and kemi badenoch. what do you make of the news around kemi badenoch comments yesterday and what does the james cleverly campaign sort of say to that? >> so if you want to ask about the kemi campaign, you ask kemi. my the kemi campaign, you ask kemi. my job is to talk about james's campaign and what i would say is we've got four candidates and all of them would make a good leader. we have no jeremy corbyn, we have no one that's mad and no one that's dangerous to our country. so whoever is leader, i shall happily support them . my judgement is james is them. my judgement is james is them. my judgement is james is the best candidate. >> is this all too softly, softly? where's the proper punch up in politics, in leadership elections of past, there has been far more blue on blue. there is, of course, this, this, this strange yellow card system in this race, which means that

everyone is tiptoeing around and trying to pull their punches. is that healthy for democracy? >> look, i think it's healthy that the four candidates make a positive case as to why their man or woman should be leader. but what we don't need is blue on blue attacks. we've had enough of that in the last five years. so i would say i'm only going to make a positive case for james. let the other candidates do the same. ultimately the party members will make their choice and i will make their choice and i will live with whatever the result is. >> okay, let's dive into some of that positive campaign now then. james cleverly says he wants to cut taxes and increase spending on defence. wasn't there recently a conservative prime minister who tried to increase spending massively while cutting taxes massively? and didn't the markets have something to say about that? >> well, look, at the moment we're setting out the broad principles of how we would govern , and i would agree with govern, and i would agree with james that our taxes are too high and our spending on defence is too low, but it's another 3

or 4 years before we have to write a manifesto. so i think we should steer clear of specific policies. that's the best thing to do until we're faced with an election and then we'll make the right judgements. but i think james's approach in setting out broad principles is correct . broad principles is correct. >> well, ashley fox, thank you so much forjoining us here on gb news. back to you, emily. >> conservative mp for bridgwater. sir ashley fox. very interesting indeed. now we're going to be crossing live to the conference hall because our very own christopher hope, political editor , is interviewing a bit of editor, is interviewing a bit of a q&a format for members and people who are attending the conference to get to know some of the leadership hopefuls. he's first off with tom tugendhat. should we drop in and have a little look? >> it's great fun. look, this is if you are if you're somebody who likes conservative ideas, if you like the conservative family, if you're if you're a conservative, you're cool. this is this is fun. i know it's an

odd thing to say, but i enjoy conference. i get to meet old friends and make new ones and that's great. and why do you want to be tory leader? >> what was the moment when you were looking in the mirror, having a shave and you thought, hang on, he could run the country? >> well, look for me. my entire life has been about public service. i mean, just as you've been somebody who's asked questions, i've been somebody who tries to answer them. i've spent 25 years serving our country in different ways . i've country in different ways. i've served on operations in iraq and afghanistan as you know, and i've fought our country's battles quite literally. personally, i've been in parliament standing up against the dictators and tyrants that at the time, some people thought were friends. but we now know to be exactly who they are . putin be exactly who they are. putin and xi and the ayatollah call them all out and got me sanctioned , as you know, for the sanctioned, as you know, for the privilege. but i think it's important. well, i'm sanctioned by russia, i'm sanctioned by china. i'm sanctioned by iran. i'm working on north korea, i'm working on venezuela . okay. and

working on venezuela. okay. and then and then, of course, i was in cabinet. i was in charge of our security and you'll understand there's a lot i'm not going to tell you about that. i'll ask you. you're welcome to ask. but i promised to keep the king's secrets, and i will. and dunng king's secrets, and i will. and during that job, i was responsible for a huge number of elements that i'm really sorry i can't talk about. but but i can give you some proof points. and that's while i was security minister. in those two years. we arrested and charged more russian and chinese agents than in the previous decade . in the previous decade. conservative leadership matters. okay >> you've got you've got a young family . family. >> do they mind what you're up to, what dad's up to , you keep to, what dad's up to, you keep trying to be the leader of the tory party you tried in 2022. >> you're trying again. >> you're trying again. >> well, they mind. they mind the fact that i'm not at home. and my, my boy loves sword fighting. and he minds the fact that i'm not currently having a sword fight with him with his

swords. but the and my daughter minds the fact that i'm not always at her ballet recital. i know this is something we share is the fact that our daughters are both both very, very keen ballerinas. yours rather more professionally than mine. i should don't tell her i said that, please. but the my daughter is only seven, so i think she can. okay. but you know of course they mind. but i'm very proud of them. and they're extremely supportive of me. and my wife is unbelievably generous in in letting me come away for, for for, days like this and, and taking on the responsibility you mentioned, you mentioned your service. >> you know, obviously, congratulations on your service. 2003 2013 in the british army, lieutenant colonel, when you when you stopped doing that work, you served in iraq and afghanistan. what did you learn from that service about being a leader by being maybe even prime minister? >> well, look, i mean, many people learned a lot of things in westminster and their experiences, of course, important. i learned what i know about leadership in combat in iraq and afghanistan, and i learned it by working with one of the most impressive people i've ever had the privilege to serve. and that's general the

lord richards, who was at the time he was chief of the defence staff. i was his military assistant, and we had the responsibility or he had the responsibility. i had the responsibility. i had the responsibility of supporting him, of making sure that our operations around the world were delivering in order to protect the british people. and, you know, that sense of service, that sense of duty , that sense that sense of duty, that sense of protecting britain from all threats is something that is absolutely at the core of who i am, because you've got to decide who you are and whose side you're on. and i have always been on the side of the british people. i've never wavered in my absolute commitment to keeping our country safe and keeping our people safe. okay. >> and just a quick question. were you a spy? >> i was a uniformed intelligence officer. >> okay . because you just the >> okay. because you just the internet says things about you. >> the internet says many things . >> the internet says many things. >> the internet says many things. >> you backed liz truss in 2022 to be leader. you regret that? >> look, i stood because i thought that i had the best answers to the challenges that we faced at the time, and i

liked when i was knocked out. sadly, before you guys got a chance to vote. but there we go. i got the i got the choice between two people, and one of them was talking about growth and many of us were inspired by that message . i think we were that message. i think we were disappointed by the failure to deliver. >> okay . and you're loyal. >> okay. and you're loyal. there's rumours that you were trying to be leader last year, >> no. >> 110. >> no. >> no, you weren't doing any fundraising or any work behind the scenes. you're loyal to the leader and i have. >> i have been absolutely clear that when i'm in a government, i serve that government. >> when you if you if you don't get this this time, you'll be as loyal as you have been in the past to the future leader. okay. what's your conservatism? i mean, are you centre left in this party? are you a wet, to use that thatcherite term? >> chris, this is this is one of those this is one of those questions that that really comes up using the language of the socialists that's used to divide us. they keep trying to describe us. they keep trying to describe your channel. >> okay. well, there we are, our very own christopher hope. there

at the conservative party conference interviewing a tory leadership hopeful, tom tugendhat, some some little jokes made there to amuse the audience of conservative party members. of course, they'll be deciding who they want to reach that final two, in the leadership contest . now there's leadership contest. now there's lots more to talk about. the maternity pay row continues. kemi badenoch . she's come under kemi badenoch. she's come under fire for suggesting that perhaps there's too much in the way of maternity pay. i know a lot of women would disagree with that, she says. her words have been misrepresented. also, robert jenrick , he says we should jenrick, he says we should display the star of david at the border to show we with israel. what do you make of

break? whoa. welcome back. this is good afternoon britain. it is now 224. now there's a huge amount going on in when it comes to

politics. anyway, the government, in response to the whole freebie gate scandal, is to tighten transparency rules for ministerial hospitality. this, of course, after the whole row over freebies received by labour ministers, they're trying to draw a line under this whole issue. they're trying to draw a line. now the information around declarations is currently published by departments, but less frequently and without a requirement to specify the value. so they're trying to tighten this up to try and prove to the public that they've got this all under control. now, this all under control. now, this also comes as robert jenrick on the conservative side. he's been forced to defend receiving a £75,000 donation despite criticising labour labourin despite criticising labour labour in the freebies row. is it the same thing though? is it the same thing. well joining me now to discuss this is political correspondent at the financial times, anna gross. anna, thank you very much indeed isn't it's interesting isn't it. the government are clearly trying to draw a line under freebie gate. they're trying to stop all the media speculation, all the bad press, all the bad headlines.

they say they're going to shake up how and when ministers and mps declare certain donations, gifts, freebies , etc. is that gifts, freebies, etc. is that the point, though, is this about how and when these things are declared? or is it about something far bigger for the public? >> not at all. and i think there's actually a fair bit of confusion about what it is that pat mcfadden announced yesterday in terms of changing the rules. and he's not saying that he's going to change the rules for mps for things like what keir starmer received or rachel reeves received. the chancellor or angela rayner in fact, it's kind of a dead cat that's being thrown. and because i think there's a bit of confusion, some, media operations are sort of lapping it up. some, media operations are sort of lapping it up . what he's of lapping it up. what he's actually saying is trying to attack the tories and saying while people like starmer and reeves and rayner had to declare gifts that they received and

hospitality that they received, the tories never had to because ministers don't have to abide by the same rules in their mps register. they have to they have to register hospitality and gifts and things in another place. so the reality is he's not actually saying anything. he's going to clean up the act of mps. he's just saying we're going to try and bring it in so that ministers can't get away with this. right. >> okay. so that's quite different from the way it's been presented as this is the way to sort of draw a line under all of this freebie gate. and this is a way to make sure that ministers and mps are declaring absolutely everything at exactly the right time, in exactly the right way. so no one needs to worry about it. i mean, how damaging has this whole scandal been for keir starmer? i mean, i've seen his favorability ratings. they've been tanking, plummeting over this. and he continues to refuse to apologise. it seems to me, and i think it seems to an awful lot of the public that he thinks he hasn't done anything wrong at

all. >> i think it is really damaging and i think it's one of those rare things in politics that does seem to have quite a lot of cut through to the public. it's something that the public can really get their head around. they can. they're sitting there and they're thinking, hang on a sec, why are mps? why is the future prime minister on his salary getting free suits? and now this is £32,000 worth of suits of clothes. that's a hell of a lot of money. when we are going through cost of living crisis or struggling to pay for things , and we have to pay for things, and we have to pay for it ourselves, i think it is damaging. i think it's particularly damaging because starmer is kind of built this reputation ahead of the election of being squeaky clean, of saying, you know, we're going to clean up politics. we're not going to be having the same kind of cronyism battles . and of cronyism battles. and actually, when this came to light, it undermines that. and also it undermines that image that he hasn't sort of gotten ahead of it to right at the beginning and saying, look, we're there's a bit of a

mistake. we're we're not going to do that again. instead, it's sort of dragged out, coming out in drips and drabs, and it's just it i think it has been really, really quite damaging. >> yeah, i think it's been quite badly handled. but also reading that rachel reeves may be targeting pensions come the budget, there's quite a lot of fear that it will be pensions that are raided when it comes to extra taxes or what have you heard on that front ? heard on that front? >> i think it's definitely an opfion >> i think it's definitely an option that's on the table. and it's something that her team have looked at. i don't think it's quite clear yet whether thatis it's quite clear yet whether that is going to be what's selected. i think the other area is that it's very likely to be targeted at this point. there's a huge amount of speculation is capital gains tax bring that more in line with income tax. but yeah, there are a raft of things on the table and she's obviously hemmed herself in. she's not able to increase income tax or national insurance contributions. and so she's

looking for other places where she can raise that capital. >> i do wonder there'sjust she can raise that capital. >> i do wonder there's just been far too much time, a lot of people would say so much time before the budget for all of this speculation. i mean, we've seen the headlines, consumer confidence down, business confidence down, business confidence down, business confidence down, simply because there's been so much speculation over which taxes might rise. people are worried about their assets being taxed. more people are worried now about their pensions and the like. and of course, you've got the pensioners with their winter fuel payments. we know that for sure. but so much else has been left so murky for so long. what are you hearing in terms of the impact on the economy and the impact on the economy and the impact on the economy and the impact on on business? >> well, i think it has led, you know, it is a dampener on companies being able to invest and make long term decisions because they are waiting just a little bit longer before they make some of those decisions. and from a political point of view, i think the historians

will look back at this time and say it was a real error leaving this huge gap, you know, huge in for the start of a government, a very significant gap between coming into power on the 4th of july and a budget, the first budget on october 30th, because it's just meant that there's so much sort of time for people to be speculating about what's going on and so much time where departments, ministers, you know, policymakers can't move forward with really important reforms on things like the nhs, on things like education and in that period people are filling in the blanks and they're latching on to stories like, like this one about cronyism and about freebies and things. because there is a void, there is an absence of other things going on. >> yeah. i think you're absolutely right. i think they might regret leaving so much time between being elected back in july and then the budget in october. that's a that's a hell

of a long time for people to speculate over which taxes might go speculate over which taxes might 9° up speculate over which taxes might go up and where spending might be cut or increased and the like. but thank you very much indeed, anna gross , political indeed, anna gross, political correspondent at the financial times. she's there in birmingham at the conservative party conference. well, let me know your thoughts on everything, but we've got lots more coming up on today's show, including the middle east, on the verge of all out war, according to some and lebanon on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. more on that after the . break. on that after the. break. >> good afternoon. it's just after half past two. the main headunes after half past two. the main headlines from the gb news centre. the bbc has apologised to former strictly come dancing contestant amanda abbington, saying it had assessed and upheld some, but not all, of her complaints about giovanni pernice behaviour during her time on the show . pernice behaviour during her time on the show. bbc management have upheld six out of 17

allegations, some of which are for the professional dancers. use of swear words. well, in a statement this afternoon, mr seesahai said he was pleased the bbc had not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour by him . former behaviour by him. former chancellor jeremy behaviour by him. former chancellorjeremy hunt has hit out at what he calls labour's lies about their economic inheritance. speaking at the tory party conference, he took particular aim at his successor, rachel reeves, describing her claims of a £22 billion black hole as fictitious. >> he the biggest lies we've had since labour came to office is this nonsense about having the worst economic inheritance since the second world war. i mean, thatis the second world war. i mean, that is a legacy, frankly, that i would have died to have when i became chancellor. it's i think the economy has got very solid . the economy has got very solid. >> the uk government says it's secured more seats on civilian

airlines in order to help british nationals in lebanon to leave the country. well overnight israeli airstrikes targeted central beirut for the first time. the lebanese prime minister has said up to 1 million people have been displaced as fighting between israel and the terror group hezbollah continues. meanwhile hamas said its leader in lebanon has been killed, along with some members of his family in an airstrike overnight in southern lebanon . the duke of sussex is lebanon. the duke of sussex is making a rare visit to the uk today to celebrate the achievements and resilience of seriously ill youngsters and their families. seriously ill youngsters and theirfamilies. prince seriously ill youngsters and their families. prince harry will attend the wellchild awards ceremony in london in his role as the charity's patron, a position he's held for more than 15 years. the king is believed to be spending time at his balmoral residence. it's thought

he hasn't seen harry since the duke rushed to his father's side at the king's cancer. after the king's cancer diagnosis in february . the king's cancer diagnosis in february. the legendary king's cancer diagnosis in february . the legendary country february. the legendary country music singer and actor kris kristofferson has died at the age of 88. a family spokesperson said. the star passed away peacefully at his home in hawaii on saturday. he won three grammys for best country song, help me make it through the night and starred alongside barbra streisand in the film made in 1976. a star is born, for which he won a golden globe . for which he won a golden globe. okay, you're right up to date with all the latest headlines. we'll have more for you 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

>> right, okay. welcome back to. good afternoon britain. it is now 238. and it's time to speak to martin daubney because he's up at 3:00. martin thank you very much indeed. tell us what's on the menu this afternoon . on the menu this afternoon. >> well, an excellent show today, emily. brilliant stuff from you gotta say. we'll be carrying on from the tory party conference. of course. kemi badenoch. mum's the word. what on earth was she thinking by? of all the people in britain taking on the mumsnet vote? has she lost it? well, we'll be grilling her between 3 and 4 pm. chris hope will be on the stage with the leadership hopeful jacob rees—mogg . well, he's put the rees—mogg. well, he's put the academy experience today by suggesting at a fringe event the way forward to power is for the conservatives to stand aside in 98 seats where they came second,

where the reform party came second to labour, a pact with the reform party. is that the way to ensure that the labour party is kicked out of power in 2029? will the tories ever listen to that, though they seem to feel entitled that they hold the whip hand of power in the right. all those times gone. also emotionally, i'll be joined by by emma webber, barnaby webber's mother, of course, who was tragically stabbed to death by valdo calocane in nottingham. she feels all the victims have been betrayed by the independent police watchdog. and she'll tell me why. also ratcliffe on soar power station. i could see that from my bedroom window as a lad. my from my bedroom window as a lad. my dad, 47 years down the pit, shovelled the coal that went into that power station. a sad, talismanic day for britain's net zero madness. it's all come in 3 to 6. >> sounds like a fantastic show and you're absolutely right about kemi badenoch. why on earth would she say that about maternity pay? i mean, every young mother i speak to or indeed older mother says it's absolutely measly. the amount of money you get for your maternity

pay- money you get for your maternity pay. certainly not living it large when you're on in that stage of your life. anyway, we're going to move on because lebanon is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe , humanitarian catastrophe, according to officials, who also warning almost 1 according to officials, who also warning almost1 million warning almost 1 million lebanese people have been displaced by israeli bombing. it follows an israeli attack in the centre of beirut last night. the first strike within city limits. now over in the united states, president biden is stressing that an all out war in the middle east has to be avoided. okay, well, how can it be? joining me now to discuss this is defence analyst james marlo james. thank you very much indeed. we hear all the time the need for de—escalation, de—escalation, de—escalation. simmer down. the tensions in this in this region, they just seem to be getting hotter and hotter. >> well, one of the reasons why they're getting hotter and hotter is because israel from israel's point of view, is under attack from seven fronts, not just three fronts, just in seven fronts. seven fronts. just yesterday, within a 12 hour period, there were rockets and missiles and uavs coming in from yemen , from lebanon and from

yemen, from lebanon and from iraq . the other countries, of iraq. the other countries, of course, gaza, hamas and islamic jihad. of course, you've got iran, you've got missiles and rockets coming in from syria, and you've also got hamas and islamic jihad still very, very strong within judea and samaria. what jordan used to call between 1948 to 1967, the west bank. so there israel is under tremendous pressure at this point, but it's beginning to get the upper hand. and the reason why it's beginning to get the upper hand is because it's been planning this for about two years time. it always knew that hezbollah in lebanon, backed, of course, by the iranian regime, it always knew that it had around 300,000 rockets aimed at israel. and that it could hit israel, including jerusalem. tel aviv and south of tel aviv, in areas like beersheba. and yet at this point , because it like beersheba. and yet at this point, because it was like beersheba. and yet at this point , because it was so, the point, because it was so, the tension was so high, and we have to remember every single day

since october the 8th of last yean since october the 8th of last year, every single day. and some of those days have included up to 150 rockets coming in from lebanon every single day. hezbollah has been firing into northern israel. now there's been evacuation between 65,000 to 80,000 of those people. i'm just back from there . i came just back from there. i came back last thursday night and there's people that i know on there's people that i know on the lebanese border. in one particular case, they've got an apartment down in the south, so they've moved down there because they've moved down there because they just said it's too dangerous. plus the route one, which is a faction within hezbollah, were planning a october 7th attack a couple of weeks ago, which is the reason why israel says that it actually enforced its plan to firstly hit with the walkie talkies. before that, of course, was the beepers. then it started to take out its leadership , hezbollah out its leadership, hezbollah leadership in an unbelievable way. and this showed that hezbollah clearly had some type of a intelligence breach within its organisation. now its deputy have just come out and just said, well, we will fight back.

but yet they're not they're still hitting the northern israel. and i just got word on my phone a short while ago that missiles are still coming across into northern israel. they've hit jerusalem on friday. on saturday night, again , sirens saturday night, again, sirens went off in jerusalem and in tel aviv. that's also happening because of the houthis firing these long—range ballistic missiles. and if you have to remember that yemen is a very, very poor country, it's a it's poverty stricken, literally, there's no work for anyone. children are in this situation of below malnutrition. and yet hezbollah , excuse me, the hezbollah, excuse me, the iranian backed houthis are the ones who are just putting all their money into these ballistic missiles, which are firing at israel . so it missiles, which are firing at israel. so it is missiles, which are firing at israel . so it is a missiles, which are firing at israel. so it is a hot situation. but nevertheless, of course, those who get behind israel, the israelis are very pleased to hear that the spokesperson for sir keir starmer actually said that we very much support our israel and we are not our israel . we we are not our israel. we support israel and they use the

word ironclad, our relationship and of course , president biden and of course, president biden has also said the same thing. >> well, that's very important, isn't it, because benjamin netanyahu has accused starmer's government. what was it, 1 or 2 weeks ago for perhaps mixed messages towards their commitment to israel? this was over the decision to cut suspend some of those arms sales to israel . what do you make of the israel. what do you make of the sort of live debate we appear to have in this country over whether we should be supporting and backing israel? of course, israel have inflicted many a civilian casualty. people are saying, you know, israel every time israel seems to fight back or airstrikes or whatever it is now, there's talk of maybe even a ground invasion into lebanon. accused of overstepping the mark, accused of making the problem worse, accused of perhaps doing more than just defending itself as a nation. yeah. what do you make of that debate that's ongoing? is it a dangerous one? >> look, if you take just as an example the hezbollah who have been firing into israel for the last 11 months, 11 months. yes. it's true that israeli air force

have hit back at certain hezbollah. munition dumps and also taken out some of the hezbollah senior commanders and deputy commanders over the last eight months. but nevertheless, it's been relentless. they've been firing from civilian areas inside of lebanon into civilian areas within northern israel. and as a result, as i mentioned, between 65 to 80,000 people have left their homes. some of the children have got no school for almost a year. families have broken up. it's been a very difficult situation and i'm not sure the british government, the american government, would wait 11 months. i'm not even sure that they would wait 11 days. so israel makes it very clear that it's going after the terrorists hezbollah, the houthis, islamic jihad , hamas. it doesn't want to jihad, hamas. it doesn't want to hit the civilians, but sometimes, if i can just add just this last line on this point is that sometimes in order to achieve the peace, you have to achieve the peace, you have to go after those who are totally opposed to peace. the iranian regime , plus its all its

iranian regime, plus its all its proxies are totally devoted , proxies are totally devoted, totally devoted to the destruction of israel and all of its citizens. if you can get rid of them, then there's a great possibility, because people say that the way to resolve this and to create peace is through diplomacy, through talking, through negotiation. >> is it possible to negotiate with. >> but that's been done. it's been done since 2005, 2006 2006 united nations security council resolution 1701 specifically said, at the end of the last lebanon war that hamas, hezbollah could no longer be in southern lebanon. it had to move right back. it had to take its forces back, had to take all its arms back. it didn't employ the united nations forces came onto the ground, but they did absolutely nothing because they're impotent. they can't fight against hezbollah . fight against hezbollah. hezbollah are one of the most powerful military armies in the world. they could take perhaps half of the registered countries with the united nations . nobody with the united nations. nobody wants to go up against them. and it's israel who's doing that . it's israel who's doing that. and what's very interesting is

you're seeing arabs in jubilation in certain communities across lebanon, syria , iran, yemen, egypt and syria, iran, yemen, egypt and united arab emirates, in bahrain , united arab emirates, in bahrain, who were really happy that hassan nasrallah has been taken out. of course they're going to be replaced, but this is a message that israel is sending to say we can reach you, meaning israel can reach them. >> and it's crazy sometimes to see people living in the west who who see that as some sort of shame that these people have been, you know, taken out. anyway. james marlow, thank you very much indeed. defence analyst always good to speak to you. that was james marlow. now this is good afternoon britain on gb news. we've got lots more coming up on today's show. i would say this is a lighter story, but it's pretty miserable actually. there's more weather warnings to come. the met office issued weather alerts for more rain. we'll find out exactly where it's going

break. welcome back to good afternoon britain. it's 251 and i'm terribly sorry to report this , terribly sorry to report this, but heavy rain, it's set to continue. the met office has issued not one but two fresh weather warnings for heavy rain across some parts of the uk today. there are yellow alerts in place across several regions. forecasters are predicting up to 60mm of rainfall in some areas, so just how bad is it going to continue to be? joining me now is the met office meteorologist and presenter aidan mcgivern aidan, thank you very much indeed. more and more rain . indeed. more and more rain. >> yes, unfortunately i'm sick of talking about it as well. but it's northern england today, as well as parts of northern ireland and north wales where we're seeing the thoroughly wet weather continuing. that's going to last through the night and into tomorrow morning. in some areas , but it is improving. areas, but it is improving. dher areas, but it is improving. drier weather is starting to arrive tomorrow from the west, although it's going to take some time to get to the east. >> oh fantastic. so things are going to get better, but some of

this weather has left a bit of destruction, hasn't it? there's been flooding people's homes , been flooding people's homes, roads, rivers overflowing and the like. it's got quite bad. >> yeah, it's been a horrendous ten days. it started the weekend before last when we had torrential thunderstorms across a large swathe of central england and parts of wales, and as a result of those thunderstorms, we saw a month or even two months worth of rainfall in a short amount of time. then we had further spells of rain last week, and now today we've been able to confirm that eight counties across central and central, southern england have had their record rainfall for september, and one of those counties, oxfordshire, has had its record for any month of the yeah its record for any month of the year. and those records go back to 1836. so this september 2024 has been the wettest month of all time in the records since 1836. >> goodness me. is it because we had a long period of quite dry weather? and so it all comes chucking down at once . why is this? >> well, we had four days of dry

weather leading up to that, so that's long in the grand scheme of things. when you look at the last few months at least. but yeah. and then and then the heavens opened last weekend and it's just been raining very hard since. so we had the thunderstorms and had further spells of rain last week, and it's been a recurring theme, hasn't it, in the last few months. and in fact, going back to the end of last year, we've just had these spells of wet weather carrying on, especially across southern and central parts of the uk. well, you know what? >> i'm going to cling on to what you said, aidan, that there's some drier weather coming our way, although it seems, i mean, being down in london, we usually have, you know, the warmest spells, but it's been absolutely horrendous. anyway, aidan mcgivern, thank you very much indeed for talking to us about the awful, awful weather we've been experiencing. anyway, thank you very much indeed for watching. good afternoon britain. we're going to be back tomorrow at 12:00. of course we are. but it is martin daubney up next with an action packed show

for you. so stick around . for you. so stick around. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb. >> news . >> news. >> news. >> hi there and welcome along to the latest forecast from the met office for gb news. cloudy for many of us during the rest of today, with further heavy rain across some central parts of the uk. showers in the far north and the far south, away from the centre of this area of low pressure, which is slowly moving east, but on the northern flank of this low, that's where we've got this band of heavy and persistent rain across northern england, in particular yorkshire and lincolnshire during the evening could cause some issues, and that rain band slowly sinks south to bring further wet weather into those areas that were so badly affected by rain last week. so that's the midlands parts of east anglia. now that rain is moving through, but showers elsewhere across the

country , some clear spells in country, some clear spells in the west and here temperatures will dip into the single figures, but it will be a bright start to the day across northern ireland, the far southwest. so cornwall seeing some sunny spells, albeit with some showers, moving into parts of the south—west. wales also a lot of cloud around, but a few showers as well. now for northwest england, western scotland and northern ireland. that's where the clearest skies will be. first thing. plenty of sunshine on offer, just a few showers pushing into the northeast of scotland, interspersed by some brighter weather and a brisk wind continues across eastern england in particular, and that east coast of the uk will see a lot of thick and low cloud through the day, and further spells of rain, some of that rain moving into the midlands at times, but it's going to be less heavy. it's just going to add to what will feel like a dreary day in the east and across central parts of england. brighter skies to the west . parts of england. brighter skies to the west. highs of 17 celsius in the south—west, where we get

some sunshine. otherwise it's going to feel on the cool side with the brisk north easterly breeze. certainly feeling cool and unpleasant in the east and across some parts of central england. but the weather is cheering up through thursday and friday. plenty of sunny spells emerge, particularly towards the northwest . northwest. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers , sponsors of boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on gb. >>

well . well. >> good afternoon to you and happy monday. it's 3 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show here on gb news. we're broadcasting live, of course, from the heart of westminster all across the uk. on today's show , throughout the show, we'll show, throughout the show, we'll be live from the conservative party conference in birmingham. we'll cross shortly live to our political editor, chris hope, as he grills leadership hopeful kemi badenoch. she'll be hoping mum's the word. and at a conference fringe event earlier

today, sir jacob rees—mogg conference fringe event earlier today, sirjacob rees—mogg put the cat amongst the pigeons when he suggested that the tories should stand down in the 98 seats where reform came second to the labour party at the last general election, in to order beat labour at the 2029 general election . is a tory reform pact. election. is a tory reform pact. smart politics or a complete sell—out and giovanni pernice is at the centre of attention as the long awaited report into bullying and misconduct has been released by the bbc. we'll be live outside broadcasting house with all of the latest on that showbiz story. and today marks an historic and, i believe, sad landmark as britain's final coal fired power station at ratcliffe on soar closes for down 47 years my dad dug coal that powered that power station is net zero zealotry, destroying our energy sovereignty and offering dole, not coal, to the british working

classes and