david lidington. now let's take a look at some news in brief.andy landings was commemorated in the lords. peers reflected on the success of the campaign, the freedoms it had brought and the price that had been paid. a peer quoted the memories of one woman. i was very moved to read of one of the war widows, bernice lois bartlett's recollection of the day when the letter came to tell her that her husband harry had been killed in 19114. she says, "i just didn't expect it. "the letter came, the ordinary blue envelope, "and i put it on the dresser. "i didn't open it because it was the child ren‘s "tea—time, and i thought, ‘0h, i'll get them done, "‘i'll put them to bed, and then i'll read my letter.‘ "of course, i didn't realise what the letter contained. "you just don't think it is going to be you." the welsh assembly has backed a call for a new referendum on whatever terms are proposed for brexit, with the option of staying in the european union on the ballot paper. earlier in the week, the brexit ministerjeremy miles told ams the labour—run welsh

david lidington.that said sure start centres brought "big benefits for children's health" — significantly cutting the incidence of under—ii‘s going to hospital. masterminded by then—labour chancellor gordon brown in the late 1990s, the centres aimed to give children "the best possible start in life" through childcare, early education, health, and family support. but a recent report by the thinktank the institute for fiscal studies said funding had been cut by two—thirds, and hundreds of centres had been closed. a labour mp accused ministers of allowing the scheme to "wither on the vine". there is a clear lesson here for government — investment in early intervention saves money later on. closing sure start centres is a false economy. so i ask the minister — will she use this report as ammunition with the tory leadership contenders in the treasury of the head of the spending review for a new commitment to revitalise sure start? the decimation of sure start has been a travesty, and flies in the face of a

of the day here at westminster, including the highlights from prime minister's questions when david lidingtonfor now from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. hello, most parts of the uk saw some wet weather on tuesday as an area of low pressure pushed its way from south to north. the centre of the low will push increasingly out into the north sea now, as the hours go by. but it will trail a weather front behind it, to keep things pretty grey and wet in the north on and off throughout the day. we also have this front to the south, and we'll see more out of that as we look to wednesday evening overnight into thursday. for this morning, it's scotland and northern ireland, though, that sit under the band of cloud and rain, and for much of the day, the prospects will be rather dank. first thing, perhaps a bit of brightness for the north—east of england, some showers to the north—west, a few for north wales. some decent sunshine as we head for the south into england. a few early—morning patches of mist are possible, but they should be fairly short—lived. and actually, for england and wales on the whole,

getting heavyweight backing in parliament from the likes of mrs may, —— mrs may's number two, david lidingtonned himself blu ntly lidington. he has positioned himself bluntly as the soft brexit micro candidate. he has also positioned himself, he proudly says so, as they not borisjohnson himself, he proudly says so, as they not boris johnson kampl himself, he proudly says so, as they not borisjohnson kampl —— candidate. for all those tory mps not very keen on brexit, not keen on borisjohnson, they not very keen on brexit, not keen on boris johnson, they tend not very keen on brexit, not keen on borisjohnson, they tend to gravitate behind him. he comes from a long, way behind. but we have kind of been here before. you think of jeremy corbyn, also an outsider, also fought a campaign outside the normal party structures, he came from nowhere to win the contest. code will be about to see the same ain? code will be about to see the same again? who knows? it mightjust be media froth and our desire to generate this into something of a real contest than a walkover. but we a lwa ys real contest than a w

he has won the backing of david lidington, mrs may's number two, and caroline spelman, the former partyis that rory stewart is becoming, if you like, the remain, the soft brexit, the note your candidate, but crucially the stock boris johnson candidate. this morning he was quite open, saying he is happy to be seen as the stop borisjohnson candidate. that matters because he has a pretty clear position for anybody who wants to stop borisjohnson, they want to think about backing him. it seems his achilles' heel is his brexit plan, which basically amounts to trying again with mrs may's deal. we know mrs may's deal crashed and burned three times spectacularly, mr stuart seems to believe that he could get it through. lam could get it through. i am saying it because it is true, we live in a parliamentary democracy and we only have one deal, and if you want to leave quickly and legally, and the main thing we want to do in this country, i think, is get on with it, get brexit done, and the quickest and most legal way is to do what we had to do, take a deal, the only deal, through parliament, and o

they had a great support from david lidington, which has been very important.e of confidence as somebody he feels could run a cabinet and be prime minister. that is very important for a campaign that started as an outsider. you talk about being an outsider. the overwhelming favourite remains boris johnson. even though we criticise him yesterday on this programme and speaking to james cleverly, because we still can't get an interview with borisjohnson, he seems to be focusing his campaign onjust talking to mps. where is you and some of the others, as we mentioned, have concentrated on speaking to the general public and spending your time on social media. do you think that, really, you should be following his example and focusing on getting the support of the mps? not in my case. my only chance in this race, really, is to bring a very different type of politics and try to show that there is the chance for the conservative party not to get stuck inside westminster but to get stuck inside westminster but to get out and talk to people. i have beenin get out and talk

they wa nt to theresa may —— david lidington. they want to make sure that forest is not... of unicorns. it is interesting the health secretary matt hancock has signed up for them when he thinks a no—deal brexit would be a disaster for the country... i don't understand where this comes from. we all know that you paint in poetry and you govern in prose. the poetry of this is very boris asked, isn't it? i worry is his prose going to be sufficiently strong with sufficient seriousness? his prose is very usually purple. if you are a leader who appoints a good team, reagan, if you like, you... my worry is, people don't reflect on the fact that he is being kept in a box somewhere and not let out. in case he hurts him... he hasn't hurt himself, has he? he should never be let out on his own, this man. it is a worry. you've got 160,000 conservative members... that's another hypocrisy. people saying, it's only 160,000 were going to elect this person, if labour were... it would be the same. each constituency averages 70,000 people die micro to be fair, the people i have heard the people