it's understood that sir jake berry, very serious. a former that sir jake berry, a former tory party chairman , told police tory party chairman, told police that an internal failure to act on allegations of rape allowed an unnamed mp to continue to offend rishi sunak says his party's complaints procedures are robust but has urged anyone with evidence of criminal acts to talk to police. >> so these are very serious. anonymous allegations. what i would say is it may be that they allude to something that's already the subject of a live police investigation , so i hope police investigation, so i hope you'll understand. it wouldn't be right for me to comment further on that specifically . further on that specifically. more conservative more broadly, the conservative party a robust, independent party has a robust, independent complaints procedures in place, but i would say anybody who but i would say to anybody who has evidence has information or evidence about any criminal act to, of course, talk to the police, that's the right course of a

>> this letter has been written by jake berry, your successor.ting the tory you're suggesting that the tory party has paid the private hospital bill of a rape complainant rather than necessary sending her the necessary sending her to the police station ? police station? >> well , all i police station? >> well, all i can police station? >> well , all i can say to police station? >> well, all i can say to you is, as i've said, camilla, i didn't sign off anything like that. >> and i don't recognise it. my myself . myself. >> so you don't have any knowledge of this having happened ? happened? >> no. >> no. >> like i said , i you know, i >> like i said, i you know, i was chairman of the conservative party. i did not sign off something like that. >> but did you have any knowledge of it having happened? >> no , no, i'm sorry. i've i've >> no, no, i'm sorry. i've i've not made that clear to you. >> no. so you don't have any knowledge of this story at all? >> i don't have i don't know who the person is because they haven't been named. and i've also said t

the mail on sunday newspaper, which says it has seen a letter from the former tory party chairman jake berryen to police last year, after they had left their positions. remember, they were chief whip and party chair under liz truss when she was prime minister, but they had written a letter, according to the mail, to police, saying that the party had failed to take more than limited action against some serious allegations against an unnamed tory mp. in the letter, according to the mail, they say there may be five victims of this mp who were subjected to a number of offences, including multiple rapes. they say the matter had been going on for two years and the failure to take action had enabled the mp to continue to offend and victimise women, and they also say that they had discovered the conservative party was paying for support for one of the alleged victims, so a very serious raft of claims made. the conservative party itself has not yet commented on the detail of the claims, but the former tory party chairman, 0liver dowden, who is now the deputy prime minister, spoke to laura kuenssberg

the mail on sunday newspaper, which says it has seen a letter from the former tory party chairman jake berry whip wendy morton who had written to police last year, after they had left their positions. remember, they were chief whip and party chair under liz truss when she was prime minister, but they had written a letter, according to the mail, to police, saying that the party had failed to take more than limited action against some serious allegations against an unnamed tory mp. in the letter, according to the mail, they say there may be five victims of this mp who were subjected to a number of offences, including multiple rapes. they say the matter had been going on for two years and the failure to take action had enabled the mp to continue to offend and victimise women, and they also say that they had discovered the conservative party was paying for support for one of the alleged victims, so a very serious raft of claims made. the conservative party itself has not yet commented on the detail of the claims, but the former tory party chairman, oliver dowden, who is now the deputy prime mini

the mail on sunday newspaper, which says it has seen a letter from the former tory party chairman jake berryast year, after they had left their positions. remember, they were chief whip and party chair under liz truss when she was prime minister, but they had written a letter, according to the mail, to police, saying that the party had failed to take more than limited action against some serious allegations against an unnamed tory mp. in the letter, according to the mail, they say there may be five victims of this mp who were subjected to a number of offences, including multiple rapes. they say the matter had been going on for two years and the failure to take action had enabled the mp to continue to offend and victimise women, and they also say that they had discovered the conservative party was paying for support for one of the alleged victims, so a very serious raft of claims made. the conservative party itself has not yet commented on the detail of the claims, but the former tory party chairman, 0liver dowden, who is now the deputy prime minister, spoke to laura kuenssberg this morning.

the mail on sunday newspaper, which says it has seen a letter from the former tory party chairman jake berryry chief whip wendy morton who had written to police last year, after they had left their positions. remember, they were chief whip and party chair under liz truss when she was prime minister, but they have written a letter, had failed to take more than limited action against some serious allegations against an unnamed tory mp. in the letter, according to the mail, they say there may be five victims of this mp who were subjected to a number of offences, including multiple rapes. they say the matter had been going on for two years and the failure to take action had enabled the mp to continue to offend and victimise women, and they also say that they had discovered the conservative party was paying for support for one of the alleged victims, so a very serious raft of claims made. the conservative party itself has not yet commented on the detail of the claims, but the former tory party chairman, oliver dowden, who is now the deputy prime minister, spoke to laura kuenssberg this morning. i

you were party chairman before jake berry wrote this letter alerting the authorities to what had gonedo you have of these events, mr dowden well, first of all, i should factually clarify that i wasn't the immediate predecessor of jake berry. >> i don't recognise these these reports, and it certainly wasn't the case i was party the case when i was party chairman that there was any kind of indeed i take of cover up. indeed i take exceptionally these exceptionally seriously these reports and allegations . first reports and allegations. first of all, they should be a matter for the police. but also there was an independent party complaints procedure that can be zero tolerance of this kind of activity. >> but did the party pay for the private hospital bill of a rape complainant? >> well , it's certainly not >> well, it's certainly not something that i signed off as as chairman of the conservative party. i didn't have knowledge of that. i can't say for certain to you simply because i don't know the name of the complainant in question. i don't think it has. sorry. the name of the person whos

the mail on sunday newspaper, which says it has seen a letter from the former tory party chairman jake berry year, after they had left their positions. remember, they were chief whip and party chair under liz truss when she was prime minister, but they had written a letter, according to the mail, to police, saying that the party had failed to take more than limited action against some serious allegations against an unnamed tory mp. in the letter, according to the mail, they say there may be five victims of this mp who were subjected to a number of offences, including multiple rapes. they say the matter had been going on for two years and the failure to take action had enabled the mp to continue to offend and victimise women, and they also say that they had discovered the conservative party was paying for support for one of the alleged victims, so a very serious raft of claims made. the conservative party itself has not yet commented on the detail of the claims, but the former tory party chairman, 0liver dowden, who is now the deputy prime minister, spoke to laura kuenssberg this morning. is

and jake berry says that crimes. been stopped in his tracks. now this has put oliver dowden, the current deputy prime minister and former party chairman, after jake berry, very much on the back foot. of course, it should have been him who followed up these allegations that jake berry first heard about. now what he's saying this morning about the particular claim made by jake berry that the conservative party, in to order cover up these allegations , has cover up these allegations, has paid for the medical treatment of an alleged rape victim, oliver dowden is saying he is he won't rule out that that happened, but he himself personally didn't sign it off. so he's he's playing a bit of a slippery card here. he won't actually say that this happened, but he's not saying that it didn't happen. it could be that he knows a little more than he's letting on, perhaps, or he's been been made aware that there could be more to the story. so he doesn't want to completely rule out. but if this goes rule it out. but if this goes any

the mail on sunday newspaper, which says it has seen a letter from the former tory party chairman jake berryons. remember, they were chief whip and party chair under liz truss when she was prime minister, but they had written a letter, according to the mail, to police, saying that the party had failed to take more than limited action against some serious allegations against an unnamed tory mp. in the letter, according to the mail, they say there may be five victims of this mp who were subjected to a number of offences, including multiple rapes. they say the matter had been going on for two years and the failure to take action had enabled the mp to continue to offend and victimise women, and they also say that they had discovered the conservative party was paying for support for one of the alleged victims, so a very serious raft of claims made. the conservative party itself has not yet commented on the detail of the claims, but the former tory party chairman, oliver dowden, who is now the deputy prime minister, spoke to laura kuenssberg this morning. is this true, what happened? well, i simpl

party chairman, jake berry, and — conservative party chairman, jake berry, and the former conservativeo _ serious allegations against a tory mp who has not been named, and the party had _ mp who has not been named, and the party had been aware of them, and only limited action had been taken. now, _ only limited action had been taken. now. in— only limited action had been taken. now. in the — only limited action had been taken. now, in the extracts of the letter, published — now, in the extracts of the letter, published in the newspaper, they say that there _ published in the newspaper, they say that there may be five victims of this unnamed mp, who had been subjected — this unnamed mp, who had been subjected to a range of offences, including — subjected to a range of offences, including multiple rapes, that the matter— including multiple rapes, that the matter had been going on for two years. _ matter had been going on for two years. and — matter had been going on for two years, and that they had become aware _ years, and that they had become aware that— years, and that they had become

it's understood that sir jake berry , very serious. rty chairman, told police that an internal failure to act on allegations of rape allowed an unnamed mp to continue to offend rishi sunak insists his party's complaints procedure are robust . british steel is set to robust. british steel is set to close down blast furnaces at its scunthorpe plant, putting 2000 jobs at risk . they're going to jobs at risk. they're going to be replaced by two electric arcs, which run on carbon neutral electricity but do require fewer workers to operate. the chinese owned company says the £1.25 billion project will make the firm a clean, green, sustainable business. downing street says it has offered £300 million of investment for british steel to cut their emissions. labour says the plan would leave the uk unable to produce any primary steel products . that's the news steel products. that's the news this is gb news across the uk on tv, in your car, on digital radio and on your smart speaker by saying play gb news. this is britain's news channel . and brit

it's understood that sir jake berry , very serious. there's an internal failure to act on allegations of rape , act on allegations of rape, allowed an unnamed mp to continue to offend. rishi sunak says his party's complaints procedures are robust but has urged anyone with evidence of criminal acts to talk to the police. so these are very serious , anonymous allegations serious, anonymous allegations and what i would say is it may be that they allude to something that's already the subject of a live police investigation, so

he was the former chair of the conservative party during the period in which jake berry, one of the successes, oliver dowden saying he categorically denies covering anything up and cannot comment more specifically, given the mp is not named, but this is yet another story relating to the working culture in west minister, and yet another story relating to complaints procedures and questions will no doubt be raised about whether those mechanisms, those procedures that exist within parliament, within political parties are fit for purpose. —— in westminster. the un office on drugs and crime says poppy cultivation in afghanistan has plummeted around 95% since the taliban authorities banned the crop last april. poppy plants are used to make opium, which has also seen production plunge. the report estimates that farmers will have lost around $1 billion in income as a result, raising further humanitarian concerns in a country where two—thirds of the population are already in dire need of aid. afghanistan was the largest producer of opium before the ban. to western nepal now, where thousands of people

today in the mail on sunday newspaper that says it saw a letter from the former tory party chairman jake berryimited action against some serious allegations against some serious allegations against an unnamed tory mp. in the letter according to the mail they say there may be five victims of this mp subjected to a number of offences, including multiple rape. they said the matter had gone on for two years and this had allowed the mp to continue to victimise women. they said they discovered the conservative party was paying for support for one of the alleged victims. so a serious raft of claims made. the conservative party itself is not yet commented on the detail but the former tory party chairman, oliver dowden, who is now the deputy prime minister, spoke to laura kuenssberg. is this true, what happened? i cannot say because i do not know who the individual concerned is. when i was chairman of the conservative party every allegation was taken seriously and was independent of me because we had an independent complaints procedure and that is the right way to address these things. if this story is

so jake berry doesn't name any one, he doesn't name the mp involved, he doesn't name the mp involved,names, because we haven't seen the original letter. but oliver dowden who is now the deputy prime minister, used to be chairman of the conservative party, he was chairman of the conservative party for some of the conservative party for some of the conservative party for some of the time in question. when he was asked about this this morning, he said look, we take all of these claims extremely seriously, and he denied any suggestion there had been a cover—up on his watch as tory party chairman, but not for the first time, i think what this is going to do is raise even more questions about the processes around westminster and that big question of whether the culture at westminster deals with allegations quickly enough, whether the political parties, including the conservatives, have robust enough policies to deal with allegations. thank you very much for that. our political correspondent nick eardley there. a hostage crisis at hamburg airport in germany has ended with the arrest of the s

it's understood that sir jake berry, a former tory party chairman, told police that an internal failure act on allegations of rape allowed the unnamed mp to continue to offend. rishi sunak insists his party's complaints procedures are robust and british steel is to close down the blast furnaces at its scunthorpe plant, putting up to 2000 jobs at risk . they'll be 2000 jobs at risk. they'll be replaced by two electric arcs, which run on carbon neutral electricity but require a lot fewer workers to operate. the chinese owned company says the £1.25 billion project will make the firm a clean, green, sustainable business. downing street says it's offered £300 million of investment for british steel to cut emissions. labour says the plan would leave the uk unable to produce any primary steel products . and primary steel products. and lastly, four men have been charged over the theft of a £4.8 million golden toilet from blenheim palace. the fully functioning loo was stolen dunng functioning loo was stolen during an overnight raid in 2019. it had been installed as an artwork at the oxfordshire

day, it's important to point out, however, tory however, that former tory chairman in chairman jake berryrom september to in that post from september to october 2022, sent a letter to the police in which he revealed that a number of allegations about an mp had been made known to the party, but only limited action had been taken. >> that could be the slogan of our country. action our country. now limited action has on, louis. but. >> but we don't know who the mp was at and we don't know what he what he did . and so it's a great what he did. and so it's a great story in many ways. this is a non—story. it's a non—story story. there's a non non stop which is available at my website at lewis schaffer co.uk. you can go to go to twitter and you can go to go to twitter and you can go to go to twitter and you can go to twitter and you can find out where my website is. well, unfortunately, we have to move on. >> on. >> lewis and let's do the i and suella braverman has been urged to time the to spend some time with the homeless it's really homeless to see what it's really like. would you let her in

day, it's important to point out, however, tory however, that former tory chairman in chairman jake berryrom september to in that post from september to october 2022, sent a letter to the police in which he revealed that a number of allegations about an mp had been made known to the party, but only limited action had been taken. >> that could be the slogan of our country. action our country. now limited action has on, louis. but. >> but we don't know who the mp was at and we don't know what he what he did . and so it's a great what he did. and so it's a great story in many ways. this is a non—story. it's a non—story story. there's a non non stop which is available at my website at lewis schaffer co.uk. you can go to go to twitter and you can go to go to twitter and you can go to go to twitter and you can go to twitter and you can find out where my website is. well, unfortunately, we have to move on. >> on. >> lewis and let's do the i and suella braverman has been urged to time the to spend some time with the homeless it's really homeless to see what it's really like. would you let her in

here's an interesting political point to conjure with sir jake berry, the former chairman of the conservative to sign a tax pledge that they wouldn't vote for measures that increased taxation. now i think we're going to have to go through these numbers with a tooth comb, liam halligan says taxes will be higher as a result of this, but you've got to work out you're apples out that you're comparing apples with apples. perhaps the chancellor argue the chancellor will argue that the thresholds already fixed thresholds were already fixed for next year and the national insurance reduction means that taxes are not as high as they would be. but for those conservative booths who really want to see taxes considerably lower, this is on the cusp lower, well, this is on the cusp of it now , slightly more of it now, slightly more optimistic note, perhaps even if not seeing taxes go down or not go down by much, perhaps we are at peak taxation at last and perhaps next spring we'll hear some reductions. but if by next autumn or later, the labour party are in power, i'm still a bit confused about what they'll

jake berry, the former the tory party chairman who actually left under liz truss just, you know, short. yeah. so he also has a beef, obviously. nadine dorries his bookis obviously. nadine dorries his book is all about the plot. it's called the plot and it's all about how they plan destroy about how they plan to destroy bofis about how they plan to destroy boris johnson. so it's lots of sleaze and revelations about that. sleaze and revelations about that . none of sleaze and revelations about that. none of it is a surprise. i don't think, to anyone about the cover ups and about the fact that victims were sort of pushed aside or given private treatment in hospitals and things like that, allegedly, whereas the rapists were actually allowed to either continue in office or get promoted . carry on. promoted. carry on. >> do you think, claire, do you think, claire, in retrospect, they might wished they they might have wished they'd her a peerage, they'd just given her a peerage, sat corner and kept a quiet. >> but no, i don't. and i really don't. think she would >> but no, i don't. and i reall