they bow to the house of lords and the lords commission doff their hats in return, then it's back to ther lot of doffing. well, believe it or not, there's a suggestion that the house of lords wants to get rid of this whole ceremony of doffing their hats. with me are two experts, bbc parliament's daniel brittain and bbc parliamentary correspondent, mark d'arcy. daniel up about why on earth they actually doff their hats? they are actually doffing their hats in greeting to the commons. it does seem odd because if they didn't have the hats on they wouldn't need to doff them. the hats, 200 years ago or so, were far more common and these hats look like 18th—century hats, and that is probably where this version of doffing came in. but it was refined, as most parliamentary ceremonial was, after the royal commission on the king and parliament, which met in 1902 to correct some of the awful disasters that had been happening towards the end of queen victoria's reign. but doffing is a greeting. they've been doing it for quite a long time. when do they do it? only a few places. the average parliam

lord claims. they don't have a salary but they entitled to claim for attendance? that is about 800 members of the houseturn up to the house, they are allowed to claim an allowance of £313. that figure is going to go up later this year to £323. that was approved by the lord isjust very recently. essentially, the sunday times have looked at how these figures tally up and have found the amount that lords are claiming has increased by 29% in the last, in the year to march last year, compared to the previous year. but more interestingly, they have looked at the number of people who are claiming that daily allowance for turning up, but not actually speaking in the chamber of the house of lords. they found there is more than 100 peers who had, during that year, had not spoken. about 65 of those had claimed despite not making any speeches. altogether, though 65 peers had claimed more than £1 million of expenses despite not making any speeches during that 12 month period. it is very interesting numbers. the numbers are interesting, but there are a number of complications, it is possible to bea of complications,

so, here we have members of the house of commons arriving in the house of lords, they bow, to the house doff their hats in return, then it's back to the house of commons, who bow again, and then there's another lot of doffing. well believe it or not there's a suggestion that the house of lords get rid of this whole ceremony of doffing their hats. with me are two experts, bbc parliament's daniel brittain and bbc parliamentary correspondent, mark d'arcy. daniel up about why on earth they actually doff their hats? actually doffing their hats in greeting to doff their hats. —— daniel, tell us a bit about why on earth they actually doff their hats. actually doffing their hats in greeting to the comments. it does seem odd because if they didn't have the hats on they wouldn't need to doff them. the hats, 200 years ago or so, were far more common and these hats, look like 18th—century hats. and that is probably where this version of doffing came in. but it was refined as most parliamentary ceremonial was after the royal commission on the king and parliament, which met in 1902. to correct some o

not least the fact that it's possible to be a member of the house of lords and do nothing if you wantney. it's possible to be a member of the house of lords and not speak in the chamber but make other contributions, committee work and the rest of it. there's a question about what the house of lords is for, which is a fundamental question that governments have never really seems to have a clear answer for. you can see it's useful for them as a place to help get their legislation through, and may be as the current government is trying to do, boost the number of conservative peers because it is worried that it keeps getting defeated, certainly during brexit by the combination of the labour, tories and the independents. but then it's the question of what they house of lords should look like and what you'd pay them for doing. yeah, absolutely. there is a much broader question about, you know, like you say, the purpose of the house of lords. it sees itself as a revising chamber. it's not a place which thinks of itself as being radical, as somewhere which can overturn legislation or the gove

unaccompanied child refugees seeking to join family members in this country in 2017 when the house of lords held enormous sway in the house of commons a spine we balanced the issue of unaccompanied child to fiji's was brought to the center of the bricks to beat large up some self brought to this country as a child refugee from nazi germany seized the opportunity to propose an amendment to the may withdrawal bill which the make government were then forced to accept as i arrived in this country in the summer of 939 as an unaccompanied child if you jade in fact this comes to you at the time i put safety to some 10000 children and it is thanks to cynically winton who helped organize came to transport from czechoslovakia but i got here told that i almost certainly owe my life to him once in a while the days of challenges to test our humanitarianism and europe's effigy cup crisis is surely one such challenge but within that there is i believe a need to do something about unaccompanied child if the g.'s and you are like other children to be able to safety in this country and be given the same welc

the legislation passed all its stages in the commons and will now be examined by the house of lords. dnesday in parliament with me, david cornock. still to come a pay rise for the house of lords. the snp has accused the uk government of "washing its hands" of the syrian people amid distressing scenes from the civil war there. since december, 700,000 people have fled the northwest province of idlib, where president assad's army is fighting turkish—backed rebels. it's the biggest exodus during the nine years of the war. at prime minister's questions, the snp‘s westminster leader, ian blackford, warned the humanitarian situation in syria has "reached crisis point". in northern syria, displaced women and their children are literally freezing to death. there are reports of babies dying due to the extreme conditions, and 16,000 people have been stranded with nowhere to go. mr speaker, the syrian war is considered to have caused the biggest wave of displacement since the second world war. can the prime minister tell the house what responsibility his government has taken for this humanitarian

country and be given the same welcome and opportunities that i had how things have changed when the house of lords similarly amended the johnson withdrawal bill the government use its newfound house of commons muscle last month so overturn it without any set of many tournaments this week or 2 more to moment for. the other place in the name of the noble lord lord dobbs well the government humbly disagrees with the noble lords a moment this moment in no way affects our commitment to seek an agreement with the e.u. prime religious way showing cannot deliver the best outcomes for these children as it cannot guarantee that we and agreements and that is why this is automatically a matter which must be negotiated with the e.u. and the government is committed to doing so to seek in the best possible outcome those negotiations give way and of course however while the men distributes in the bill they issue itself has not gone away and today we speak to some of the committed campaigners with then i'd with a pilot who intend to bring it back to the political center estate i think the more of us the better and

and the sunday times says house of lords spending is out of control reporting that peers paid themselvesis set to swell to its largest in two decades. so, let's start with that story, the house of lords in the sunday times. expenses spiral out of control, david? yes, they have been looking at the claims of the noble gentlemen and ladies in the upper house and they found they have risen 30%. interesting figures in here. 31 lords who claimed more in expenses than the standard take—home pay of an mp. just to give you a bit of detail, you get £323 tax—free for signing on and some of the piers... when you say signing on you mean turning up? turning up. signing on might be appropriate. turning up? turning up. signing on might be appropriatem turning up? turning up. signing on might be appropriate. if you attend at the lords for the day, you don't have to say anything. lord coming m, have to say anything. lord coming in, the former labour cabinet minister, he cost taxpayers millions of pounds and only made seven speeches in the chamber last year. with the number of peers about to increase to 83

and the sunday times says house of lords spending is out of control, reporting that peers paid themselveslmost one third more last year, and the house of lords set to swell to its largest in two decades. well, let's get straight into those stories with lucy and martin. let's start with the sunday telegraph, which has the headline top civil serva nts which has the headline top civil servants on tories‘ hit list. i suppose the clue in the job titles is that these are meant to be permanent secretaries at the top of each department. yes, that's true, and we tend to think of the civil service has providing this amazing continuity, irrespective of what stripe your government might be. but they spoke about it during the election and they have talked about it subsequently. boris and his team are very keen to remove a whole swathe of top civil servants, and they did talk about the blob, they talked about this sort of aim office group of people that they wanted to feel it. and they have identified people, they have got a hit list, and you could argue that the civil service actually needs to moderni

not to be true so what is the government's logic here will remember memorably of dubs in the house of lords succeeded an amendment to teresa mayes breaks a bill tried the same thing and succeeded in the lords of abolish johnson's woodrow bill but here's this big majority in january to overturn the house of commons but what is the government's motivation a minute most we're talking a few 1000 people involved why are they so dead set against a structurally provision and title these children to rejoin the farms well it's evidence of 2 things to do to that question i think there's an ingrained behavior and motivation in the home office which is and is going back to in the 2nd world war what orphan children of the holocaust there was resistance to deal to when did we have for instance the 300 children in to czechoslovakia it was resistance in the home office to allow them a sense of normality after the horrors of going to an all across so there's that stand that runs through the home office for decades but i think more worryingly perhaps in the current conservative government it's just a feeling

lord dolar popat came to the uk aged 17 with just £10 and now he's a successful businessman and one of the few asian peers in the housesh subject, is what he describes as a love letter to the country that gave him everything. it's a timely testament to the importance of integration in britain. victoria craig caught up with lord popat, who's also the uk trade envoy to rwanda and uganda, to get his thoughts on immigration today. immigration was a key issue on the referendum that we decided to leave european union for that very reason. all i'm saying in my book to the new immigrants coming to this country that if you work hard, if you, you know, respect the value of this great country, you can integrate and make a success for yourself. and these are the immigrants that people will want to live in uk. you yourself have been a prolific entrepreneur. you started your own investment business. you went into care homes. you became a hotelier. what made you want to be an entrepreneur yourself? i thought it was very much in my dna. and most african indians who come into uk tend to come with a business background anyway. but more

i do find that it is odd that house of lords has chosen to do that. but it is a decision for them. look back now at some stories from the wider world of politics. gary connor has our countdown. he's out. sajid javid resigns. he's become the first chancellor for 50 yea rs never to he's become the first chancellor for 50 years never to do a budget, the last was ian mcleod in ted heath's government, although his excuse was he died only a month into thejob. how does the prime minister's top adviser cummings answer a difficult question? the night time is the) the night time is the ) to fight crime, i can't think of a rhyme. with lyrics from a children's tv show. at three, good news in northern ireland with the first same—sex marriage taking place this week. more than five years after it became legal in england and wales. at two, going up, the price forfixing big ben. coming in at almost £80 million. repairs turned out to be more tricky than they thought. at one, want to get rid of furry little visitors? the earl of hume has a culinary solution to pest control. it might be helpful that g

i do find that it is odd that house of lords has chosen to do that. let's look back now at some stories from the wider world of politics. gary connor has our countdown. he's out. sajid javid resigns, the‘s excuse was that he died. how does the prime minister's top adviser cummings answer a difficult question? at three, good news in northern ireland with the first same—sex marriage taking place this week. more than five years after it became legal in england and wales. at two, going up, the price forfixing big ben. coming in at almost £80 million. repairs turned out to be more tricky than they thought. at one, plans to get rid of furry little visitors. it might be helpful that squirrels are extremely good to eat! gary connor. now in 1833, parliament passed an act to abolish slavery in britain's colonies. a new play for the royal shakespeare company, based on research in the parliamentary archives, depicts the political deals behind a measure which proved to have a long—term cost. gabrielle 0'neill reports. isn't that what we were fighting for? he expec

unaccompanied child refugees seeking to join family members in this country in 2017 when the house of lords held an enormous we in the house of commons a spine we balanced the issue of unaccompanied child refugees was brought to the center of the bricks to beat large up some self brought to this country as a child refugee from nazi germany seized the opportunity to propose an amendment to the may withdrawal bill which the make government were then forced to accept as i arrived in this country in the summer of 1939 as an unaccompanied child refugee in fact this country here at the time often say 50 to some 10000 children and it is thanks to the nicky winton who helped organize kinda transport from czechoslovakia that i got here tall and i almost certainly owe my life to him once in a while the days of challenges to test are humanitarianism and europe's effigy crisis is surely one such challenge but within that there is i believe a need to do something about unaccompanied childhood g.'s and you know i'm like other children to be able to safety in this country and be given the same welcome and

there's been speculation in recent weeks that the government plans to move the house of lords to yorkib dem. i ask the deputy speaker to convey to number ten that however effective their red herring of york has been in taking us off the scent, and whether your lordships finish up in york or exeter or the police college, we still desperately need to see safety and security improved in this building with an astonishing seven stone falls in 12 months. can ijust emphasise the point that has been made that every weeks delay increases the cost, and increases the risk of a catastrophic failure in this building? it's estimated that the restoration and renewal programme will cost at least three and a half billion pounds. labour reckoned the sooner the project started the better. every member of the lordships house will have a story of something that has gone badly wrong. i had the electrician in my office this morning. something that is badly wrong and damage that can be done. if this project is to proceed, it has to proceed so in terms of keeping mindful of the cost and not ensuring further d

leader, lord steel, has resigned from the liberal democrats and announced his retirement from the house of lordssed by the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. the inquiry found that, as party leader in 1979, he didn't act on claims against the mp, cyril smith, because he considered them to be "past history". our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. do you want a man to represent you or do you want a party robot? cyril smith, the big political figure in rochdale in the 60s and 70s, accused of abusing children, neverjudge. and 70s, accused of abusing children, never charged. in 1979 he admitted to david steel, then the leader of his party, the liberals, that he had been investigated by police a decade earlier. last year, now lord steel, told the abuse enquiry he believed smith was guilty but he did nothing. he could for all you knew still be offending against children? i had to admit, that never occurred to me and i am not sure it would occur to me even today. but the enquiry‘s verdict was that he turned a blind eye. lord steel hit back today... smith is now dead but victims‘ l

westminster child abuse scandal, just in the last of the lord steel says he has now quit the liberal democrats and is going to be retiring as a member of the housey. i have informed the party that my resignation is with immediate effect. this comes after the report that said he was aware of the allegations against sir cyril smith at the time. the former egyptian president, hosni mubarak, has died, at the age of 91. he ruled egypt for three decades and was a hugely influential figure in the arab world during his years in power. but he was forced from office in 2011 during the wave of protests known as the arab spring. it comes as the us president donald trump has announced a large military deal with india, on the second day of his visit to the country. it follows talks in delhi between the president and the indian prime minister, narendra modi. mr trump's visit has been overshadowed by some of the worst rioting seen in the city for decades. seven people have been killed in the violence, which erupted over a controversial new citizenship law. rajini vaidya nathan reports. tensions ignited on the streets of the indian capital. a vision of delhi, wh

unaccompanied child refugees seeking to join family members in this country in 2017 when the house of lords held an enormous way in the house of commons is finally balanced the issue of unaccompanied child refugees was brought to the center of the bricks to beat large up some self brought to this country as a child refugee from nazi germany seized the opportunity to propose an amendment to the may withdrawal bill which the make government were then forced to accept as i arrived in this country in the summer of 939 as another company child if you jade in fact this comes at the time i put safety to some 10000 children and it is thanks to see.

nothing makes the case for the reform of the house of lords better than this process of nominating peoplele and labour should be the party to do it. do you want to abolish the house of lords, it's not democratically accountable and it needs to be replaced with an elected senate outside of london that represents our communities properly. don't hate me, i will ask each of you an individual question about these people. who is this? scofield. first name? philip. lisa nandy, who is this? someone with very cool hair. i'm not cool. she won five grammys last year. i am still in britney spears mode. rebecca long—bailey, who is this? britney spears mode. rebecca long-bailey, who is this? andy cole? emily thornberry, who is this? oh, she is my hero. i met her the other day. dina asher—smith. 0ne she is my hero. i met her the other day. dina asher—smith. one of the best things that has ever happened to me. a few minutes to go. ever broken the law, rebecca long—bailey? not knowingly, no. i'm sure i've driven over the speed limit slightly from time to time. i fully expect so but nothing that serious th

legislation has to get to the house of lords before the end of the house of lords before the end of thehe month was that the government wants to make sure they have the legislation in place. the opposition says they should focus more on what happens to people inside prison. why some people are a p pa re ntly inside prison. why some people are apparently leaving prison more radicalised than when they entered it. we will be discussing that as well. thank you. a planned deportation flight to jamaica has taken off in last the half—an—hour, despite a court of appealjudge ordering the home office not to let it do so. lawyers had argued that problems with mobile phone signal prevented detainees from getting proper legal advice. last night a judge ruled that 50 people being held close to heathrow could not be deported. the home office says it makes "no apology for trying to protect the public from serious, violent and persistent foreign national offenders." here's carol with a look at this morning's weather. there has been subsumed news over the last few days. quite a few yellow warnings out th

mudslinging" between divorcing couples in england and wales has attracted some strong criticism in the house of lordsissolution and separation bill is the biggest shake up of divorce laws in 50 years, according to the government. currently, one spouse must allege adultery or unreasonable behaviour by the other for divorce proceedings to start straightaway. if the bill passes, spouses will only have to state that the marriage or civil partnership has broken down irretrievably. in the lords, thejustice minister set out the case for the bill. it will not make divorce painless or an easy choice. it will not take away the difficult decisions couples have to make about their future lives. but it will pluck out the legal sting whose effects can be felt long into the future. this is a matter in which there is wide support for change from the public as well as from legal practitioners. removing unnecessary conflict from the legal process of divorce will, we believe, create a more amicable environment in which a couple can agree their future arrangements. but not everyone agreed. while under certain circumstan

staying with britain's future relations with the eu, the issue in the house of lords was how many peoplethe uk to work? the president of the research organisation migration watch lord green claimed that if the recomendations made last week by the government's advisers on migration were put into effect it would have a profound effect on the workforce. i do speak for 30 million uk adults who wish to see immigration reduced. my lords... well, read it, it's all on our website. my lords, last week the migration advisory committee made some recommendations that would, on their own admission, result in 16 millionjobs becoming open to worldwide competition. clearly, a rapid increase in immigration is a considerable risk, as indeed has happened on a number of occasions. so will the government, as a precaution, take powers to introduce a cap should that prove necessary? well, my lords, given that we will be introducing a new points—based immigration system and of course we will have the immigration social security coordination bill later on this year, as the noble lord will know, i will keep revie

and tomorrow it reaches the house of lords. hi. welcome to the programme.re live until 11 this morning. dojoin our conversation this morning. are you a parent with strong views on why it might be that girls do better than boys at school? secondary school league tables are out today and they're expoected to show a significant gender gap in exam results. and we've got an update on our ongoing investigations into the impact of vaginal mesh on patients — a story first brought to our attention by you at home, so as always, your voices are very welcome on that. use the hashtag #victorialive. first, the news. scotland's finance secretary derek mackay has resigned with immediate effect after allegations emerged that he sent hundreds of messages to a 16—year—old boy. in a statement issued this morning, derek mackay said he took, "full responsibility" for his actions and that he had behaved foolishly. he added, "i am truly sorry. i apologise unreservedly to the individual involved and his family." the government wants emergency legislation ending the automatic releas

of public prominence. following today's publication, lord steel resigned from the liberal democrats and announced his retirement from the houseer liberal leader did not act on claims against the former mp cyril smith because he classed them as "past history". our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. do you want a man to represent you or do you want a party robot? cyril smith, a big politicalfigure in rochdale in the ‘60s and ‘705. accused of abusing children. never charged. in 1979, he admitted to david steel, then the leader of his party, the liberals, that he'd been investigated by police a decade earlier. last year, now lord steel told the abuse inquiry he believed smith was guilty, but he did nothing. he could, for all you knew, still be offending against children? that never... i have to admit, that never occurred to me. and i'm not sure that it would occur to me even today. thank you. but the inquiry‘s verdict was that he turned a blind eye. lord steel hit back today. the inquiry not having secured a parliamentary scalp, he said, ifear that i have been made a proxy for cyril smith. smith is now dead. but vict

the house of lords defends itself as "busy and effective" after reports that peers were paid almost a

the house of lords defends itself as "busy and effective"

for example house half the house of lords have some sort of title huawei so it wasn't much of a surprise when even the intelligence services were concerned in the u.k. about huawei that eventually boris johnson has decided to embrace weiwei thank you for that the clock has beaten us as ever here on inside story thank you to i guess they were 2 and dyson 3 is a felon roderick wian thank you to you 2 for your company you can see the show again any time by going to our website al-jazeera dot com and for further discussion to check out our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story and also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. inside story for me peter doherty and the team here in doha thanks for watching we'll see you again tomorrow but like. i. joined the listening post as we turned the cameras on the media the states misleads the public the state's media reflects the same thing as climate change and focus on how they were pulled on the stories that matter the most americans live side by side in 2 parallel universes the truck parts of america ar

in a debate in the house of lords, several peers called for much tighter controls on imports of plantss unusual solution to problems posed by squirrels. i think we have something to learn from the way that controls are imposed by the authorities in new zealand on the importation into that country of any plants, seeds, or other vegetable material. their bio—security controls at their airports far exceed those in operation in the united kingdom as i once discovered when i arrived in that country having in my bag a rather attractive and innocent looking pine cone. i had picked it up on holiday in southern california. i was warned by a form which i had to complete to declare any such items on our arrival. i duly did so. and notified that i was entreated almost as if i was a criminal. the arrival of sweet chestnut blight has given us cause for huge concern. and whilst it seems to be contained currently, it has brought home the need for the proper monitoring of imports, and also to endless infield, inwood vigilance. action was also needed against pests such as the grey squirrel and deer. the

for example house half the house of lords have some sort of title huawei so it wasn't much of a surprise when even the intelligence services were concerned in the u.k. about huawei that eventually boris johnson has decided to embrace weiwei thank you for that the clock has beaten us as ever here on inside story thank you to i guess they were clint dyson too is a fellow wrote required thank you to you to your company you can see the show again any time by going to our website al-jazeera dot com and for further discussion to check out our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash him inside story and also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. inside story for me peter doherty and the team here in doha thanks for watching we'll see you again tomorrow but like. i. talk to al-jazeera we talk about 2 of the biggest problems facing them they all the endemic corruption the gun we listen so if you really put place china's ahead of me a little more there's another really than yours we meet with global news makers and tweak about the stories the back to know just 0. the u

the house of lords defends itself as "busy and effective" after reports that peers were paid almost ahird more last year. bernie sanders celebrates his status as the democratic front—runner to take on donald trump in november's us presidential election. and a family breaks their silence after their son died, not on the battlefield, but after mistakes during a military training exercise. that's coming up in bbc wales investigates. good afternoon. more than 100 people who were evacuated from china two weeks ago due to the coronavirus outbreak are being released from isolation at a conference centre in milton keynes. the group, who were brought back to britain earlier this month on a repatriation flight from wuhan, have been in quarantine since they arrived back. meanwhile, italy has announced what it's described as "urgent" and "extraordinary" measures to tackle the biggest coronavirus outbreak in europe, with more than 100 people taken ill there. 11 towns in the north of the country have been placed under strict quarantine, with nobody allowed in or out. and the virus is continuing to

astor had won the plymouth seat vacated by her husband, viscount astor, after he'd moved to the house of lordsports. presiding over members dining room, the woman whose arrival had mps spluttering over the dover sole. nancy astor is back in westminster as part of a drive to display more artworks depicting female politicians. and if new mps are nervous about making their maiden speeches in 2020, what must it had been like for the first woman to do so? this is the hansard parliamentary debates volume for february 1920 which includes the maiden speech of nancy astor, the first woman to take her seat in parliament. and so her first words are, "i shall not begin by craving the indulgence of the house... "i am conscious of the indulgence and the courtesy of the house. i know that it is very difficult for some honourable members to receive the first lady mp into the house. it is almost as difficult for some of them as it was for the first lady mp herself to come in." i think it must've been incredibly daunting. she was the first woman to ever enter with 500 plus men in there, and i think it probably

the government has a big majority in the house of commons, 80 seats, so they will probably easily comfortably past that hurdle. in the house of lords be more opponents of this. firstly because this is said to be an emergency measure, well is it an emergency? the government knew the release dates of these prisoners from the moment they were sentenced. the other point is introducing laws that affect people who have already been convicted and sentenced raises concerns about whether that is fair in law, and the law is quite balanced on that. it is likely to go to the courts and my understanding is some lawyers are already preparing the ground for legal challenge. many thanks. the number of people in mainland china known to have died from coronavirus has risen to over 560. the authorities there are taking stringest measures to slow its spread, including turning off lifts in some high—rise buildings to discourage people from going out, and in beijing banning group—dining for occasions like birthdays and weddings. but in london, the chinese ambassador to the uk accused the british government of over—reacting, and insisted the crisis was u

of public prominence. following today's publication, lord steel resigned from the liberal democrats, and announced his retirement from the houseiberal leader did not act on claims against the former mp cyril smith because he classed them as "past history". our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. do you want a man to represent you 01’ do you want a man to represent you ora do you want a man to represent you or a party robot? sarah smith was a big politicalfigure in the 60s. it was accused of abusing children but neverjudge. he then admitted to david steele that he had been investigated by police a decade earlier. last year he told the abuse enquiry he believed smith was guilty but he did nothing. he could for all you still be offending against children? i had to admit, that never occurred to me and i am not sure it would occur to me even today. but the enquiry‘s verdict was that he turned a blind eye. lord steel hit back today, the enquiry not having secured a parliamentary scalp i fear i have been made a proxy for sarah smith. because david steele failed to act, sarah smith was able to remain in public life and he

the former speaker of the house of commonsjohn bercow has told the bbc he believes there is a "concerted campaign" to stop him from entering the house of lordspeakers to be offered a place in the upper chamber, but mr bercow has come under fire from critics and faces allegations of bullying, which he denies. the former speaker has been talking to the bbc‘s paddy o'connell. do you think there is a conspiracy to stop bercow going to the other place? oh, yes, there's no doubt about that, that's absolutely blindingly obvious, it's a point in fact that is so obvious that only an extraordinarily clever and sophisticated person could fail to grasp it. so, it's over, for the lords, for you? i didn't say that. you ask me weather there was a concerted campaign, weather there was a conspiracy, weather there was an organised effort, and i said it is blindingly obvious that that is so. as to what the outcome will be, well, we shall have to see. there is no entitlement to go to the upper house, every speaker for the last couple of hundred years has been invited to do so, but there is no entitlement. we shall have to see what happens. what i'm focused on i

number ten ready to square up to what it sees as the establishment, the bbc, the judiciary, or the house of lords spend an awful lot of your time continually crossing the road to have a fist fight with some of the other residents of the westminster village, rather perhaps than getting on with what mrjohnson likes to call people ‘s priorities. norman, thank you. our top story this lunchtime: evacuations are under way in several counties in england and wales, as the risk of flooding continues after storm dennis. and still to come — the name's eilish. .. billie eilish — we meet the 18—year—old singer who is performing the theme to the new james bond film. coming up on bbc news: mako vunipola will miss this weekend's six nations match against ireland. the prop has returned to tonga for family reasons. the rest of eddiejones' squad is unchanged. next week, members and official supporters will begin voting in the labour leadership and deputy leadership contests. over the next three days we'll be looking in depth at the three candidates hoping to become leader of the opposition. today, our political cor

david steel has quit the liberal democrats and is to retire from the house of lords following a new reporte had failed to act on allegations against his colleague cyril smith. the results of the inquiry, published today, said the political establishment spent decades turning a blind eye to allegations of child sex abuse. our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds is at westminster but it did not find any evidence of a paedophile network at the heart of the establishment something that was being alleged in 2012. it did fine, as you say, deference when powerful people were accused of child abuse, details were not passed to the police in particular, to protect reputations. the inquiry uses cyril smith as an example, he was an mp in rochdale in the 1970s but in the late 60s he was investigated by the police were looking at allegations that boys had been abused in two schools. ten years after cyril smith had a conversation with david steele who was the leader of the liberal party and told him this investigation had happened. steele gave evidence about this at the inquiry, he said it was a brie

that is the leader of the house of lords, and likely to stay in her position. that downing street likes. they want to control the message, they want to control the message, they want to control cabinet ministers, too. and i think the departure of sajid javid is going to be quite a moment for the others are sitting around the cabinet table, the fact that they will be looking at thinking, look, no one is safe here, anything could happen. it has the advantage for the prime minister of keeping everyone in line. three women are out, theresa villiers, esther mcvey and andrea leadsom, not unexpected, that, but downing street had suggested there would be other, more junior women brought in to sort of swell the ranks. any sense if that is taking place, or is it too early to say? what is interesting is the prime minister, prime ministers recently have been very mindful of the gender gap, if you like, that there is at the top table, and they use this attending cabinet role, which sometimes can be a bit of a cheat. they are people who are not cabinet ministers in full, the

i'm not going to the house of lords, ok? and would i want to go anyway?e years. have i? yeah, you were really angry. it is the subject that has been metamorphosising people. they go from being normal... yeah, i think brexit was like a metastatic cancer into the body politic. it's got in there and then everybody became radicalised by it. i will never be a leaver, but i'm very happy... no. no, no. but i don't think the term leaver and remainer apply any more, and ifor one am relieved. but what i do think is that both sides, if there are going to be sides, have got to make sure that whatever happens is right for the country. this lunch is on me. is it? oh, my god! you won, i lost. well, that's marvellous. thank you. so, the loser picks up the bill. that's very sporting. cheers. nice to see you. really nice to see you. our second date. very pleased. doesn't often happen. that is it for this week. you can contact me anytime on twitter and you can e—mail us if you have a story is like us to look at. victoria@bbc.co.uk. we are back live on monday morning at 10am

on monday, the house of lords passed the bill without making any changes.justice secretary updated mps. the terror attack in streatham earlier this month sadly demonstrated that sentencing laws were not working as they should. people's lives were being put at risk for the automatic early release of terrorist offenders without scrutiny by the parole board. and now that the terrorist offenders restriction of early release act bill has passed a late stages through both houses, convicted terrorists will serve at least two thirds of their sentence before being considered for release. introducing emergency legislation is not a step the government would ever take lightly but the law was not working and we had a responsibility to act. i am pleased that this house agree with that assessment and we were able to get the new law onto the statute book as a matter of urgency. the prisons minister tried to reassure those mps concerned that longer prison sentences could make it harder to deradicalise prisoners. experience shows that a path towards de—radicalisation is very

i do find that it is odd that the house of lords has chosen to do that but it is a decision for them.imals?” thank my honourable friend for her campaign against illegal wildlife trading and trophy hunting and we mean to end the import of trophies hunted elsewhere into this country. in 2018, the wife of vladimir putin's former deputy finance minister paid £20,000 for lunch with the dent scottish conservative leader ruth davidson who we believe is soon to be ennobled. could the prime minister remind a house why his government is yet to publish the intelligence and security committee's report into alleged russian interference in uk politics? as he knows, the report will be published as soon as the intelligence and security committee is reconvened and as i have told the house before, there was of a conspiratorial cast of mind will be disappointed by its findings. can i commend the prime ministerfor the belief he has in britain and the boost to infrastructure around the country but with the landing fees at £25 per passenger at heathrow airport and with a third runway those fees will rise,

the former liberal leader lord steel says he's now resigned from the liberal democrats and is retiring as a member of the houseshed to avoid further turmoil for the party and his family. let's talk now to our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds. tom, ijust read a little bit there about what lord steel has been singled put this into context for us. what is going on here? this inquiry is one of a dozen inquiry stands, as they call them, at that the inquiry is looking into. being politics and being westminster, it is the most controversial. any lord steel part of this is just one part of the wider report effectively says that although there was no paedophile network operating in westminster, when individual cases we re westminster, when individual cases were brought to light, powerful people were protected. an in lord steel's case, the claim was about cyril smith. he was a counsellor in rochdale, but he became an mp for the liberal party, the former party before the liberal democrats came into existence. in 1959, cyril smith was investigated by the police in connection with allegations with boys who had been

david steel has quit the liberal democrats and is to retire from the house of lords following a new report the former liberal leader told the independent inquiry that he had failed to act on allegations against his colleague cyril smith. the results of the inquiry, published today, said the political establishment spent decades turning a blind eye to allegations of child sex abuse. our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds spoke to us earlier from westminster. ididn't ididn‘tfind i didn't find any evidence of a paedophile network. it did find deference when powerful people were accused of power of fence —— child abuse, he was an mp in the 1970s, but in the late 60s, he was investigated by the police with allegations that boys had been abused into schools. ten years after that, cyril smith had a conversation with david steele who is the leader of the liberal party and told him this investigation had happened. he gave evidence about this at the inquiry last year. he said it was a brief conversation and he didn't admitany abuse, brief conversation and he didn't admit any abuse, but because