couple of days ago and there was an interesting debate on the bbc earlier between lord lawson and kenneth clarkent views. lawson said we should not be talking about this and that the good friday agreement does not matter too much, but other people think that is a rather blase approach. there are significant issues that are coming to the forefront, unsurprisingly, because people assumed they would be sorted, perhaps, and they haven't. that summit is really crucial and if the deadline is missed it has all sorts of consequences. as if she didn't have enough problems at the moment. the clock is ticking. and now the metro, the royal stamp of approval, this is in the wake of the commonwealth heads of state summit and the queen said she would like prince charles to succeed her as the head of the commonwealth. what did you make of that? very interesting. very striking... the commonwealth, to see that many, 53 heads of government, it really does look like her majesty, for her to say, someone who has been so discreet, it is a personal remark to say it is her sincere wish that prince charles succeeds. and

. >> did you get a lot of pushback, were people so rev rent toward kenneth clark this they didn't want to see change? i think there's this dreaded phrase judeo christian. he either was a farrpharaoh or . >> if you say something as gentle as guess what, renaissance perspective would not have happened had not arab scholars had not recovered. they're -- aagainst the judeo. we're not doing that. it's just a mat matter, a rather wonderful matter of the historical truth. of course you tend to get fantastic sort of t fantastic sort of tirades. >> is there a change in the way culture is looked at today than maybe 50 years ago. is it more inward looking or outward looking today? >> from my point of view, i'm somebody who's a product of outward looking expansionism empire. i'm half british, half nigerian, and to make sense of who i am, i've always an interested. most exciting places are place that is were in contact, that were imagine -- in their imagination were looking to the outside world. for me they're some of the best stories. >> homosapiens started to evolve in africa 200,000 years ago. d

takes place and that was echoed by a number of grandees from our own conservative party as well kenneth clarke is how pretty much every job apart from prime minister not happy the parliament wasn't consulted same for duncan smith a former party leader as well so the ire of m.p.'s in the house of commons right now directed at the reason they are not asking first before taking any action on syria will listen across the more of those questions taking place in the chamber it's bound to go on for another couple of hours yet if anything else comes from it really. you know now just to remind you how we got here in the early hours of saturday morning the united states the u.k. and france carried out joint strikes against the syrian government the three allies say the operation was launched in response to an alleged chemical attack in the city of duma a week earlier although many western governments have blamed assad's military for that suspected assault they've not performed any clear evidence to support that claim. one of the targets of the u.s. led attack was a research facility near damascus the sy

prior approval or debate from parliament on this decision, because as you know, jeremy corbyn and kenneth clark on the other side have both said that they feel that should not have taken place, and there seems to broad turningf away from a precedent set back in 2003. as i justster may: said, i believe this action was necessary and that it was the right thing for us to do. we have been working with our allies and partners over the past week to make a close as possible assessment to what happened on the ground, and figure out what interactions were necessary, and do that in a timely faction -- fashion so we could act with sufficient understanding of what has happened on the ground and proper planning of any action, but to do so within a time scale gives us a very clear message to the regime. it was also important, and i believe it is important, as we are setting out, one of the greatest things, decisions a prime minister can take is to send our furthest personnel into action, into combat. when we do that, we owe it to possible, toas protect their security and safety. for security reasons, it was

debate from parliament on this decision because as you know jeremy corbin and on the other side kenneth clarke have both said that they feel that that should have taken place and there seems to be a feeling abroad that tony blair set a precedent back in two thousand and three but as i said others as i've just said i believe that this action is there so i believe it was the right thing for us to do we have been working with our allies and partners over the past week first to make the fullest possible assessment of what happened on the ground and then to consider what action was necessary and to do that in a timely fashion so that we could act with sufficient understanding of what happened on the ground and proper planning of any action but to do so within a time scale that gave a very clear message to the regime and it was also important and i believe it is important as we are sending it is one of the that the grave is thing that decision that a prime minister can take is to send our service personnel into action into combat and when we do that we owe it to them that we as far as possible prote

debate from parliament on this decision because as you know, jeremy corbin and on the other side, kenneth clark, said they feel that should have taken place. there is a feeling, back in 2003. >> as i just said it is action i feel was necessary and the right thing for us to do. we have been working with partners over the past week, making the fullest possible assessment on the ground and continue what action is necessary. and to do that in a timely fashion so that we could act with sufficient understanding of what has happened on the ground and proper planning of any action but to do so in a timescale with a clear message to the regime and also important, i believe it is important, the gravest decision a prime minister can take is to send service personnel into action, into combat. when we do that we know it to them to protect their safety and security. and for operational security reasons we act in the way we did, properly plan it and act within a timescale that is right to protect operational security and give a clear message to the regime. robert? >> you explicitly linked the overnight action

debate from parliament on this decision because, as you know, jeremy corbin and on the other side, kenneth clark said they feel that should have taken place. there seems to be a feeling abroad. >> as i said, as i just said, i believe this action is necessary. i believe it was the right thing for us to do. we have been working with allies and partners over the past week to make the fullest possible assessment of what happened on the ground and consider what action was necessary and to do that in a timely fashion so that we could act with with sufficient understanding of what happened on the ground and proper planning of any action. to do so within a time scale to give a clear message to the regime. it was also important, and i believe it is important, as we are sending, it is one of the gravest decisions a prime minister can take, is to send our service personnel into action, into combat and when we do that, we owe it to them that we, as far as possible, protect their safety and their security through operational security reasons, it was right we acted in the way we did, properly plan this, asses

debate on parliament on this decision, because as you know, jeremy corbyn and on the other side, kenneth clarkehey feel that should have ta ken place both said that they feel that should have taken place and there seems to be feeling abroad that tony blair is set a precedent back in 2003? as i have just set a precedent back in 2003? as i havejust said, i believe set a precedent back in 2003? as i have just said, i believe this action is necessary, i believe it is the right thing for us today. we have been working with our allies and partners over the week, first to make the fullest possible assessment of what happened on the ground and then to consider what action was necessary , then to consider what action was necessary, and then to do that in a timely fashion so that we could act with sufficient understanding of what happened on the ground and proper planning of any action, but to do so ina proper planning of any action, but to do so in a timescale that gave a very clear message to the regime. and it was also important, and i believe it is important, as we are sending, it is the gravest deci

kenneth clarke. >> mr. speaker, i fully support the proportionate, targeted action that we have taken against these sites, and i hope the government would consider similar direction again in the future if anyone is so foolish as to repeat chemical weapons attacks. we can all debate these matters, but it takes a real prime minister to actually face up to -- [ audience reacts ] . >> but on the question of the parliamentary role, i think the prime minister was not relying on the archaic, narrow interpretation of the royal prerogative, which no government has invoked in this country for over 50 years. they've always come to parliament for debate and votes, if possible, on any military action. and she says there was a problem of time, but surely, once president trump had announced to the world what he was proposing, a widespread debate was taking place everywhere, including many mps in the media, but no debate in parliament. so, would she consider setting up, once the immediate issues are over, a cross-party com