wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. ♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program

is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tails advice to help you live your life. life well planned. george: actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news". anchor: hello. i am christian fraser and this is "the context."

30-1 in terms of the size of our gdp's. you want to make sure it counts. >> you are playing chicken with our national security. >> i will not go back to south carolina and tried to explain why ukraine, israel were helped but we did notng to secure our own border. i will help all of our allies but we have to help ourselves first. ♪ anchor: the british foreign secretary in washington today urging congressional leaders to find a way to support ukraine. they will speak tonight to the budget director this week wrote to republicans warning that funds for military aid would run out by the end of the year. the united nations has a could no longer operate a humanitarian operation in gaza. we will be in jerusalem tonight.

and day number two of boris johnson's presentation over covid. good evening. in a video with g7 leaders president volodymyr zelenskyy said russia was counting on the collapse of western support. russia believes america and europe will show weakness and not maintain their support after -- at the proper level and he has legitimate concern for -- legitimate reasons for concern. increasing the likelihood that congress will fail to approve more funding before the year-end. the bill would provide about $50 billion in new security assistance but it will not pass republicans unless it comes with substantial immigration reform. here is our analysis editor. reporter: commitments of aid to

ukraine are at their lowest. ukraine has beenelying on western support. new data shows and 87% fall in new commitments of aid compared to this and period last year. this graph shows the total aid promised each month pete last december and look at what has happened. the latest data shows that commitments have continued to fall. 42 countries that had previously donated now only 20 committed new a between august and october and they were only small commitments from ukraine's guest donors, the u.s. which provides the most military aid and the eu which provides the most financial age. and both are experiencing political standoffs. joe biden wants congress to approve a funding bill which includes six to $1 billion in aid for ukraine but it is being blocked by republicans who want any aid to ukraine to be tied to

tougher order controls. >> there are important questions that must be answered so we can continue with these negotiations and among those is what is the endgame? reporter: with republicans blocking the bill it is unclear what the endgame will be for this legislation. the white house has this warning -- >> without additional funding these weapons will be among the last we will be able to send. reporter: the ukrainian president was equally blunt to u.s. senators and september. >> a single set and summed it up and i'm quoting him verbatim. he said if we don't get the eight he will lose the war. reporter: and this is not all about the u.s. the biggest pendin from the eur. there are divisions between

member states over a new overall you budget and that is threatening the pledge that was made to kyiv. and as the war enters another winter, it is worth remembering what joe biden said just after russia's invasion. >> we must commit now to be in this fight for the long haul. it will not be easy. there will be cost but it is the price we have to pay. reporter: the price the west is willing to pay for now is falling. anchor: on monday, the white house sent a letter to congressional leaders warning that funds for military aid would run out by the end of the year. and the director of the office of management and budget said failure to approve support would kneecap kyiv in its fight against the russian invasion. there is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment she said. we are out of money and nearly out of time. she joins us from washington.

director young, thank you for coming on the pgram. how much money does the white house have left right now to send to ukraine? >> one, it is good to be with you this evening. our plan is to use the small amount of funds we have left, around a billion dollars, and before the end of the year to send more weapons and equipment to ukraine and after that, as you have said, there is no magical pot of money. the alternative is to eat into our own military readiness. and every country has to look at itself and say, weigh the risks of that and we have done that and there is no magical pot left without doing grave meant -- grave damage to our own readiness. anchor:an you explain those alternatives?

>> there is always flexibility in the funding we receive from congress. we are talking about running out of the past ukraine funding that congress provided. and instead using funding that congress has earmarked for our own readiness, shipbuilding and operations. there is a reason congress did not ask us to do that before a. it would be incredibly harmful. there is not an option and they know that and that is why it has not been asked of us before. anchor: our reporter was telling us that of 42 donor countries that have previously donated only 20 have committed between august and october. does that make it harder for you as you make your argument in washington?

>> the united states is key to keeping the western partnership, the western alliance together. it is not just about our aid. congressional republicans know this and they understand the leadership role that america plays. they understand that other countries look to us and will make decisions based on that. what we are doing is critical not just for our own aid to ukraine but it sends a message to our other partners. and that is as concerning as what we are able to deliver from our cotry and what congress has so far been unwilling to continue. anchor: time is ticking as you say. is president biden calling in the congressional leaders? >> this president put forth a request to do something about

our immigration system. he asked republicans to provide funding to ensure we would have a better processing way of doing things on our southwest border. that we have the equipment necessary to find dangerous drugs coming across our border and that we have more people at our border working. that we have a better asylum system. if you are for border security for this country you would have voted for the border security bill. anchor: there was an important article in the washington post and i wanted to share with our viewers. 68 billion dollars in military and related assistance -- almost 90% of that spending remains in the united states as public procurement for american companies and worker salaries. weapons for ukraine are produced

in 71 cities in the united states. have you made that point to republicans that there are jobs on the line? >> it is not just jobs. the figures you state are correct. it is not just american jobs which this funding represents. we send the equipment to ukraine and israel and we are able to make more equipment, oftentimes it is more modern and we replace our own stockpiles. and we have made that case. which is why the president called what happened yesterday stunning. the fact that republicans are not willing to put politics aside, have grown up conversations about what is doable and quit saying "my way, all my way or the highway" when most will tell you they understand the stakes. anchor: what are you telling the defense companies who need lead

time to manufacture weapons for ukraine? >> if you were a business, what would you do without seeing a future commitment from the united states government to build this equipment. we begged these companies to step up to the plate and start making more of this equipment. we found the conflict had a dual benefit of helping our partners would also ensuring that our defense industrial base started to produce at a level we probably needed it to be before these conflicts. and frankly i don't know why anyone elected to first duty, protect security, why anyone would put that in jeopardy. anchor: david cameron is in washington and we will hear from him in the next hour. he is talking to secretary blinken as we speak no doubt lobbying for ukraine funding. what happens if the u.s. pulls back?

what would that mean for europe's position? >> i will let -- i won't pontificate on what other countries do but i said it earlier. it is not lost on us and america that the u.s. president has been critical to ensuring this alliance is held strong. if america, congress, does not step up and do what is necessary, it not only kneecaps our allies in ukraine and not show up for our allies in israel , it also has the added risk, and we should not be taking as it brings the fight to our doorstep. after ukraine, where is vladimir putin going? most people tell you he is going to nato territory. that puts our sons and daughters at risk in america and across to

our allied partners. and i'm sure your foreign secretary has that very thing top of mind as we do. anchor: we wish you the best with the negotiations. thank you for coming on the program. around the world and across the u.k., you are watching bbc news. let's take a quick look at some of the stories making headlines in the u.k. weather warnings in parts of across the u.k. weather forecasters saying some areas are at risk of flooding. more than 40 flood warnings in place. some places could see up to 18 millimeters of rainfall. the senior coroners said the inspection lacked fairness, respect and sensitivity and was at times rude and intimidating. rachel perry took her own life in january while waiting for the report to be published.

the chief inspector apologized to her family. the government has announced the bbc license fee will increase by 10 pounds 50. the figure was determined using september's rate of inflation rather than an average across the last year. the increased free will come in effect in april having been frozen for the last two years. you are live with bbc news. the u.s. aid budget also includes funding for israel and the palestinians in gaza. you need only to look at what is unfolding on the southern part of the strip to see why that support is so needed. the israel defense forces are in the heart of this area. the leader of hamas is believed to be tunnels.

u.n. says the operation in the south oaks the same as the one in the north. and every bit as lethal. the u.n. emergency relief coordinator martin griffis says the a distribution has now virtually stopped. >> we do not have a humanitarian operation in southern gaza that can be called by that name anymore. that the pace of the military assault in southern gaza is a repeat of the assault in northern gaza. and it has made no place safer civilians in southern gaza that had been a cornerstone of the humanitarian plan to protect civilians and thus to provide aid to them. but without places of safety, that plan is in tatters.

anchor: let's go to jerusalem to speak to our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams. a stark assessment from the u.n. release chief. it is not a humanitarian operation by name any longer. what should the response be? reporter: listen to the language he used. he talked about the comparison between the south and the north, he was very deliberately echoing the words of the u.s. secretary, antony blinken who when he was here a week ago says military -- israeli military operations in the south must not be the same as what is in the north. we want to see fewer civilian casualties and fewer people driven from their homes and on the move. the u.n. is saying in effect, this is a repeat of what we saw in the north and unless something is done to address it, we will see a worse disaster. the south is where everyone is.

including 1.7 million displaced gazans. what is israel doing? when you listen to israeli officials, they are acutely conscious of the need to be seen as trying to facilitate a better operation. they are talking about reopening the crossing point as a point where trucks come aid trucks can be processed. and i could speed up the process of getting the trucks cleared through the israeli side and into gaza. there is talk from people like the british defense secretary who is here today about getting the raw navy and providing a directly to the gaza strip. a lot of people are talking about improving the situation? none of it is keeping pace with

israel's military operation and that is the point that is being made. anchor: i listened to him today and he gave the impression that the eight operation with held back -- was held back by technical fficulties. when you look at the aid operation through the crossing, it is technical not physical. that is the problem. >> the israelis argue that in a way it is technical. we have no problem with the volume of aid. if you want to send in 200 trucks from ramallah, fine. the capacity of the agencies to handle the volumes of aid. i think they would argue that at a time when the whole of the southern gaza strip are a war zone with very precarious transportation lengths and areas

that are being hit by -- that is what is making it so hard to organize aid. and people are showing up into shelters but they are so full you have to move on to somewhere else. keeping up with where everyone is and what their needs are and that is a hellish business even without a tortilla. anchor: really good to talk to you. this was day number two of boris johnson's evidence to the u.k. covid inquiry with much focus on the second wave that came in late contee 20. more people died in that phase of the pandemic than the first six months. boris johnson was asked today about his attitude towards all the people. he has let it rip and in diary entries -- the prime minister

took the view that the elderly would have to accept their fate. mr. johnson firmly denied that and spoke of his own experience. >> i knew from that experience what an appalling disease that is. i had no personal dialect about that from march onwards. to say that i did not care about it -- about the suffering that was being inflicted on the country is simply not right. anchor: he was asked about the parties at number 10 including in particular several christmas events while christmas was canceled for the rest of the country. mr. johnson said he could have done more to insist that people thought about how their behavior was perceived by others. >> i extensively tried to explain how i think that came

about and why i think the people who were working on -- in downing street for a long time believed they were operating and working within the rules of the time. though as i say to you and to those you represent, i understand fully the point you are making and i regretted it very much. anchor: joining me tonight is a former house of lords, james bethel. lord bethel, thank you for being on the program. is there anything from boris johnson today that you did not disagree with? >> i thought he came across as very emotional. one thing that struck me as odd is that when he was presented with the evidence from number 10, he did speak of the natural

locker room -- in rather fond terms. though i've been to many downing street sense seen how tough the atmosphere can be, i think there was something peculiar about this downing street and the difficult nature of the climate there. and i was a bit surprised to hear him defend that. anchor: he set up the test and trace operation that you are in charge of. i was told we had a good system and ample preparation. that turned out not to be true. >> it is true we did not have a great test entry system at the beginning. for some reason the minutes went to asia after sars in 2003, they looked at what everyone was doing in korea and taiwan to put community contact tracing and testing and a place. they came back and did not do

anything about it. when we looked under the bonnet at the beginning of the pandemic we found there was nothing there whatsoever. and we had to build from scratch . and we built something that was one of the biggest test and trace operations in the world. he does have a point there. >> that brings me to the areas i want to go with with you. the purpose of the inquiry. you said in an article that was about career politicians that were moaning about each other. i don't think it is an unfair characterization because a lot of us here have expressed that frustration. are you frustrated with how it is being run? >> it is not giving an account of the good work that has been done. boris tried to do that a little yesterday. i saw extremely hard-working officials and clinicians leading into a hugely complex situation

and achieving remarkable results. i can list five things that he did that are exceptional. we gain no sense of that. we are just tting swearing whatsapp. >> i watched sir patrick's testimony yesterday. we spent an inordinate amount of time questioning him about his diary and trace. what we should be getting from him is what we can do. protect ourselves the next time. >> precisely. what is striking to me is that there are never any numbers mentioned. for me, the entire pandemic was found in my head. it really was a very scion -- scientific and analytical process but no one is being

asked at any point -- for example, sir patrick looking at this draft. there has been nothing analytical about it at all. recommendations for how it improved have been very slow to emerge. i feel like we as a country has gone backwards. anchor: i've only got about a minute left what what do you think are the key questions that would better in arm future preparedness and crisis management? >> three things quickly. the structure of dublin -- and -- in terms of a health system, it is ruing red hot.

and thirdly, in terms of the global effort, surveillance, investment in vaccines and preparedness of diagnostics, there should be much more international collaboration and a commitment to participate in that. and i fear none of that is happening. anchor: lord james bethel, good to have you on. we will talk about the other prime minister. yet sacked -- a lot of scrutiny today on the bill which will be presented next week to the house of commons and the splits within the conservative party. and a i dk and that will be within the next half-hour. be in the n narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors.

narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program

is provided by...