christopher steele passed this on to mi6. what happened next?ho what was said in the film. i understand these documents were not passed on to ministers, neither were ministers briefed about them when they were passed over. whether they have been briefed in recent days, that is another matter. you might have thought that if a report like this ends up at mi6, it would end up on the desks of senior ministers and at the white house. but what happened was a judgment was made that these reports were not really compiled to the standard you would expect of mi6, and with that in mind, mi6 had to make a judgment about whether it would be helpful or unhelpful to brief ministers. clearly they reached something of a politicaljudgment based on those procedures mark was talking about, that it was best to put some distance between ministers and these reports. what is the feeling in whitehall that you are sensing about what has been revealed? it's a bit sniffy, really. what i'm hearing is he is not an intelligence agent. he is a businessman. he runs a business m

the person who put the dossier together, he is ex—mi6 and the russians say, you are never xml —— ex—mi6 ago. ex—mi6. he left the service is about seven years ago. he once ex—mi6. he left the service is about seven years ago. he once said to a journalist, do you know who i am? the journalist said, no, journalist, do you know who i am? thejournalist said, no, he journalist, do you know who i am? the journalist said, no, he said thatis the journalist said, no, he said that is the way i like it. but illusion has gone for ever! eye—macro illusion has gone for ever! eye— macro the illusion has gone for ever! eye—macro the suggestion here is that he was hired to find information, and what he found was so information, and what he found was so important, he thought, but that is what he passed it onto the fbi. one of the things that to be honest honest doesn't seem to be right to me is that donald trump has done something in his private life that is so scandalous that he would be subject to blackmail by the kremlin. have you ever found anything that donald trump has done that he is ever embarrass

those claims were in a report written by christopher steele, a former mi6 officer who's now gone into hiding. we'll have the latest from washington, and from moscow, with eight days to mr trump's inauguration. also tonight. nearly 28 years after hillsborough, prosecutors consider bringing charges against 23 people and organisations. snow and bad weather have swept across northern ireland, scotland, and parts of england, causing major disruption in some areas. tributes to the former england football manager graham taylor, who's died at the age of 72. and we speak to the writer of la la land — the man who's brought the art of the musical back to hollywood. and coming up in sportsday later in the hour on bbc news, west ham's star player dimitri payet goes on strike and demands a transfer, but the club say they won't sell him. good evening. donald trump seems to be at odds with some of his key cabinet nominees on some of the vital questions facing the new administration. his choice for new head of the cia, mike pompeo, has strongly endorsed the work of the us intelligence community — hour

in the 1990s, he worked in moscow, undercoverfor mi6, and became one of their russian experts.g mi6, he and a former colleague founded orbis — a private intelligence company. orbis are headquartered here. there's no sign of chris steele though. companies like this normally try and keep a low profile. they rely on their contacts, sometimes from their past in the intelligence world, to gather information. last year, donald trump's opponents, republican and then democrat, commissioned investigators to see what damaging material they could find. among those was christopher steele, whose work unearthed allegations about trump's sex life, business dealings and his campaigns relationship with the kremlin. these were passed to the news media, who tried to investigate, but couldn't confirm the allegations. details were also passed to the fbi and to politicians, who began asking questions. last week, us intelligence briefed trump about the existence of the memos, without saying they were true. and that led to a news outlet publishing the memos two days ago. because he was an ex—mi6 offic

the former mi6 officer widely named as its source is gone into hiding. christopher steele is thought to have left his home earlier this week and has not been seen since. here is our security gordon corera on the british connection to this american drama. gordon: the murky world of intelligence gathering in moscow. a secret dossier on allegations about donald trump and russia all written by a former member of mi6, the british secret service. this is christopher steele, the author, a man used to keeping a low profile, now the center of international controversy. his house was unoccupied today. the 52-year-old was supposed to have told neighbors to look after his cats. he is said to be lying low, fearing for his safety. in the 1990's, he worked in moscow undercover for mi6 and became one of their russian experts. in london, after leaving mi6, he and a former colleague founded a private intelligence company. it is headquartered here. there is no sign of steele. companies like this try to keep a low profile and rely on their contacts sometimes from their past

one further thing— the former mi6 officer is not the only source.retired spy only source. i spoke to a retired spy last august who said he had been told of the existence of a blackmail told of the existence of a blackmail to buy the head of an east european intelligence agencies over the summer. we should stress in all of this that these are allegations and mrtrump is this that these are allegations and mr trump is literally correct when he says they are unsubstantiated. nevertheless, america's within a credible position of my days before an inauguration to decide whether or not their president is a russian agent of influence. evans eva ns stood evans stood as the independent candidate in an election and is a former cia operative who joins me now. good to see you and thank you for being with us. the relationship between the commander—in—chief and spy between the commander—in—chief and spy agencies is critical to any country's national security. how would you characterise the relationship between a donald trump, the cia and the fbi? it is highly trou

that stuff about former mi6 allegations.istopher steele prepared this memo, this dossier. but know about his reputation and why was he preparing this information in a memo in the first instance? christopher steele is a 50 something british retired sas officer, secret intelligence service officer, secret intelligence service officer, who was a russia specialist. he has a lot of good context specialist. he has a lot of good co ntext fro m specialist. he has a lot of good context from his time in moscow. he knows some former fsb and probably serving fsb officers. it is the successor to the kgb. the federal security bureau. they do the external spying a russia. he was commissioned by a washington political thing called a political activist committee, to basically compiled this dossier which looked at allegations that the russians had at allegations that the russians had a hold over donald trump. this was quite some time ago. this was earlier last year. but he found in that worried him so much that against the advice of his compa

he left mi6 around ten yea rs very intelligent.left mi6 around ten years ago to set up this form, did a lot of work on corruption within football. he actually helped the fbi investigate corruption in fifa. and he is well—regarded. now, i think this report, which is about 35 pages long, contains some unredacted sort of extracts from his russian contacts, there's quite a few spelling mistakes in there. but i suspect that contained some elements of truth and some elements that are completely fictitious. there are all sorts of allegations of sex scandals, but also money purse —— changing hands. you can see why the fbi and cia are concerned about this, because if there was any truth in it, that would imply that people in the kremlin have got a hold of a future president, something to blackmail him with. that is why donald trump is saying it is absolutely untrue. james klapper, the director of national intelligence hasn't exam is said that, he says we can't substantiate it, and we deny the leak comes from us. “— it, and we deny the leak

mr belhaj intends to sue the former foreign secretary, jack straw, who was responsible for mi6 at thevement. concerns about security at a tunisian resort where 30 britons were killed by an islamist gunman were raised months before the attack took place. the inquest has heard that a report in january 2015 for the uk government suggested there was a low standard of protection at some hotel entrances in the area of sousse. president putin has dismissed allegations that russia had gathered compromising material on us president—elect donald trump as ‘total nonsense'. the russian president said the leaked information, which appeared last week in the us media, was obviously fake. one of donald trump's closest advisers has told the bbc that the united states would win any trade war with china. anthony scaramucci has warned that retaliation over tariffs will hurt china more than the us. china's president spoke today about the benefits of globalisation, saying protectionism was ‘like locking oneself in a dark room'. the speech was delivered at the world economic forum in davos. our economics ed

from that moment on, that he became a spy, working for mi6. she stayed with this young polish foreign service officer for a while, but then the spymaster's in london told her it was time to move on. betty was able to move on without any regrets. she did not have romances as much as she had adventures. her controller asked her, do you know count lubinski? she said no, and he explained that he was the chief aide to the polish foreign minister. he said, i would like you to get to know the count. but he said, ok, i will try to arrange it. she went to see the american ambassador, an old family friend of her mother and father from washington. she said, i think it's time you throw a party. he said, ok. i would like to sit next to count lubinski. he gave her a wink and said, i understand. betty goes to the party and approaches the table. as she wrote in her memoir, i would have made a play for the count if he was as ugly as satan. fortunately, he was not. [laughter] howard: so betty and the count dance cheek to cheek, the champagne flows, and by the e

he says they're not looking for mi6 officers to take what he called moral short cuts. he said an intelligence officer in the real m ishi6 has high emotional intelligence, values teamwork and has respect for the law, unlike mr. bond, he says. >> good report. appreciate it very much. this programming note -- starting next month, right here on cnn, you can see the most iconic moments in comedy from stand-up to sitcom, cnn's new original series "the history of comedy" starts thursday, february 9th, 10:00 p.m. eastern. looking forward to that. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." "erin burnett out front" starts right now. >>> "out front" next, breaking news, trump versus mexico. the meeting between the two leaders canceled, trump considering a major tariff on mexico. is the white house walking it back? >>> plus more breaking news, the white house promising more executive orders on the way tonight. cory booker is with me tonight to respond. >>> and trump's mar-a-lago club just got a lot more expensive. the fee to join now

it is an ex—mi6 agent who drew up certain claims in this dossier.o be clear for our viewers that this was not put together by the fbi or cia, this is allegations and information that would lead by a private detective, effectively, in the pay of the democratic party, or a big democratic party donor and this detective agency is run by an ex—mi6 agent and he has got all this information concerning allegations relating to mr trump and moscow. information concerning allegations relating to mr trump and moscowm the case of nominative determinism, it is christopher steen have to thank for this. he was deep undercover and had worked with the assassination of alexander litvinenko and he had an idea that there was something going on, a relationship between trump and putin way before we had any idea that he was even thinking of standing for the presidency. what he did, it seems to be that he did a reconnaissance of this situation at the time and has put this together. in one memo dated june 2016 it claims that the kremlin has been cultivating trump for at leas

it is feasible though, being responsible formi6, mi6 feasible though, being responsible for mi6, mi6ou are right, it is a murky and difficult story which does not reflect well on those who were involved. we're going to talk to reprieve a human rights organisation who are outside the supreme court any moment now. we are sorting out the technicals. we want to talk to you about yemen. you havejust technicals. we want to talk to you about yemen. you have just visited there. today, the un is warning that 10,000 people could have died there in the war, millions more are starving. tell our audience what you saw with your own eyes? well, i visited yemen with the united nations and with oxfam and i was able to travel north to an area which has been most bombed in the war. what i saw was a deep humanitarian crisis on the ground. as you said, 10,000 people have been killed, but 86% of a population of 27 million are now in need of support. and the problem for britain is this — we are on the one hand supporting humanitarian objectives, profoundly, i think, supporting humanitarian objectives, prof

mr steele had worked on the russian desk at mi6 for 20 years. british embassy in moscow. more recently he had been hired to gather information on mr trump, first by republicans and later democrats. the allegations his undercover war —— he uncovered were handed to the fbi. with nothing to report, the media steered clear until a 2—page summary was handed to president 0bama this week and mr trump himself. as early as last summer, there were reports circulating that the russians had a tip. whether or not the sources were telling the truth, we wait to see. these allegations are being treated as credible by the us intelligence community. compromat, is how the russians describe it. this year, the former prime minister, now a leading opposition figure, was allegedly taped having sex with his assistant behind his wife's back. he blamed the fsb. even if there is no film, mr trump's presidency might already be compromised and not only by his dealings with russia. yesterday he ceded control of his business empire to his two adult sons, but in the eyes of th

we're speaking about only the united states of america and some retired gentlemen who used to work in mi6 or mi5, i don't know exactly, from great britain. the rest of special services in european countries, they have never accused russia of interfering into somewhere they have just started to feel uncomfortable, at the same front of allegations — uncomfortable, at the same front of allegations - that's not strictly true. what you've said isn't strictly true. bruno khal, chief of germany's foreign intelligence

secrets, what about the uk government possibly giving permission to the fbi to question this former mi6are questioning whether that will dampen this beautiful relationship we have. so-called special relationship! you and i will talk about how many interesting conversations we will have around president trump, but here the security agencies do this on a day—to—day basis. i'm sure what we're finding out here is a normal process of protocol between fbi, mi6 and other agencies. just because it's got the trump name in there and there's some potential information, whether it's right or wrong, it's becoming front—page news. we need to tone it down a little bit! the inauguration is coming up, there's things that are going to happen but i think the press need to stop foaming at the mouth. he may have things to say but see where he actually gets his strength from in terms of when he starts talking policy and having time to think about and reflect on things, he hasn't had that time yet. things like this being thrown at him, we all need to step back and give space and time. shall we talk about... y

mi6, christopherstela, is the bbc understands a former member of mi6, christopher stela, is now in hiding and strong winds are expected to cause disruption across much of the uk in the next few days as the met office warns the country will receive a real taste of winter. investigators have announced that 23 people and organisations could face prosecution over the 1989 hillsborough disaster when 96 football fans were unlawfully killed. we will turn to our colleagues at the bbc sport centre for the latest news. good afternoon. we start with the news that graham taylor, former england manager, has died at the age of 72. he managed watford and aston villa in a managerial career which also saw him take charge of the national team in the early 90s. and swiss joins national team in the early 90s. and swissjoins me national team in the early 90s. and swiss joins me now. national team in the early 90s. and swissjoins me now. the huge tribute being paid to a man who was held in very high regard within the football community. the tributes have been pouring in for community. the tributes have been po

person in london, former mi6 person with whom they'd worked before, to see if he could further developnformation. over the course of months he began producing reports and by august of 2016 he was sufficiently concerned by the substance of the reports to go to rome, turn them over to an fbi colleague, counterintelligence colleague in rome from the fbi, and it was forwarded to the fbi in washington, these reports. subsequent to that, a former british ambassador to russia contacted john mccain and said there is this information floating around produced by this mi6 guy and a meeting was arranged between mccain and the mi6 -- a meeting was arranged between the former ambassador and mccain. at that point, mccain got the information shortly afterwards, the underlying memos. he then turned them over, the memos subsequent to the ones that had been turned over the fbi in august, mccain turned those over to fbi director comey personally in december on december 9th. now people are awaiting to see what the fbi and other investigators produce now that they have this underlying information. >> we rea

all written by a former member of mi6.topher steele, now at the centre of controversy. his house was unoccupied today. he is supposed to have told neighbours to look after his cats and he is said to be lying low, fearing for his safety. what do we know about christopher steele? he is 52. in the nineties he worked for middlesbrough. mi6 in moscow. he founded a private intelligence company called orbis. last year he was commissioned by trump's opponents to look into russian connections. he came up with 35 pages of allegation. orbis are based here. there is no sign of chris steele. he is a man with contacts in moscow. but so far there has been no confirmation that the extraordinary allegations he dug up there are definitely true. thanks to his past asa definitely true. thanks to his past as a spy, steele is unlikely to have been able to travel to moscow himself and will have relied on others to gather information. moscow's a difficult place to work in. the ruckses have a habit —— russians have a habit of secrecy and deception

the russian embassy and the uk tweeted this today "christopher steele's story, mi6 officers are never ex." once a spy always a spy. take that as a threat? we don't know if anything that was in that dossier, that dossier published by buzzfeed, we don't know if any of it is true, none of it has been corroborated but today the british ambassador to russian who served in moscow while this ex-mi6 agent also in moscow, that former british ambassador came out today by name, not as an anonymous source and vouched for the credibility and reputation of this ex-spy. he said "he's not the kind of guy who makes stuff up." in terms of our own intelligence service, the director of national intelligence says our intelligence agencies have not made a determination about the veracity of those wild claims in that dossier. if the information is false, this ex-spy who created that document, he may have gone into hiding because he has powerful enemies in the united states, he doesn't want our president coming after him somehow. if what's in the dossier is true, though, oar if what's in the dossier is even

it is notjust the mi6 officer who is the source for this.ed spy back in august that the head of an east european intelligence agency had told him also of the existence of a blackmail tape on the republican presidential candidate. having said all that, these are allegations and nobody has seen the tape and donald trump is correct when he has said so far this is not substantiated. with me is our north america editorjon sopel. mr trump's first press conference since winning the election, it was certainly an unusual one. what's your assessment of it? i think we have got used to the bizarre standards by which we accept communications from donald trump and this one was way beyond anything we have ever seen because of these allegations about his business activities and his personal conduct that we heard paul wood talking about. it is worth underlining, is this fake news or not? we are reporting this because the intelligence agencies thought it was serious enough to bring it to the attention of the president elect and the president himself. i though

jack straw, who was responsible for mi6 at the time, denies any wrongdoing.2011, colonel gaddafi's been toppled, and it's chaos. among the files strewn across the offices of his security service, a document comes to light suggesting britain played a part in the abduction and torture of a libyan dissident. he's abdul hakim belhaj, once regarded as a terror suspect. now, he's been told by britain's highest court he can sue mi6 and the government, which tried to halt the case. the supreme court unanimously dismisses the government's appeals. normally, the english courts can't consider cases involving what foreign governments have done abroad, but in thisjudgment, the supreme court has concluded that that doesn't prevent the courts here from considering british involvement in what's happened. in this jail, mr belhaj says he was tortured after he and his pregnant wife were intercepted by us agents and flown to libya. there have been no criminal charges but, speaking in istanbul today, he insisted britain was involved. translation: they've got to admit that this ac

i spoke to a retired spy in august to tilt me quite independently of the mi6 officer, the only sourceead of an eastern european intelligence agency of blackmail tate possessed by the russians with material of the sexual nature about mrtrump. material of the sexual nature about mr trump. none of this is to say that anybody is endorsing these claims, but there are certainly —— there is certainly sufficient credibility for the intelligence community to pass them onto mr obama, the congressional leadership and mrtrump, who is obama, the congressional leadership and mr trump, who is angry. some viewers would say wouldn't russia have an interest in mr trump thinking they had this kind of thing on him? they're all sorts of explanations, one of which, i spoke to an expert on russia who said that fsb officers like to boast that they have compromising material, they make a lot of use about as part of the tradecraft and they are always boasting about this or that public figure possibly being the subject of blackmail, we do not know unless we see the tape at the russians will not release it, so i

one further thing — this former mi6 officer is not the only source.spy last august who said he had been told of the existence of a blackmail tape by the head of an east european intelligence agency over the summer. we should stress in all of this that these are allegations and mr trump is literally correct when he says they are unsubstantiated. nevertheless, america's are in an incredible position nine days before an inauguration to decide whether or not their president is a russian agent of influence. paul wood with that, and plenty more on that later. also making news: japanese prime minister shinzo abe begins a six—day tour of asia pacific nations. he'll visit the philippines, australia, indonesia and vietnam. the tour comes at a time of uncertainty over the commitment of the incoming trump administration to the region and china's rising maritime assertiveness. it's emerged that another pakistani civil society activist has gone missing, adding to four who've already disappeared recently. there've been demonstrations across pakistan earlier this wee

all written by a former member of mi6.e, now at the centre of controversy. his house was unoccupied today. he's supposed to have told neighbours to look after his cats and he is said to be lying low, fearing for his safety. so what do we know about christopher steele? he's 52. in the nineties he worked undercover for mi6 in moscow. after leaving, he founded a private intelligence company called orbis. last year he was commissioned by trump's opponents to look into the tycoon‘s russian connections. he ended up with 35 pages of allegations about his professional and personal life. orbis are based here. there is no sign of chris steele. he is a man with contacts in moscow. but so far there has been no confirmation that the extraordinary allegations he dug up there are definitely true. thanks to his past as a spy, steele is unlikely to have been able to travel to moscow himself so instead will have relied on others to gather information. moscow's a difficult place to work in. the russians have a habit of secrecy and deception.

one further thing — this former mi6 officer is not the only source.last august who said he had been told of the existence of a blackmail tape by the head of an east european intelligence agency over the summer. we should stress in all of this that these are allegations and mr trump is literally correct when he says they are unsubstantiated. nevertheless, america's are in an incredible position nine days before an inauguration to decide whether or not their president is a russian agent of influence. the mexican president has again insisted his country will not pay for a wall along the border with the united states. enrique pena nieto was speaking just after the trump press conference, during which the president—elect said he wanted to start building it immediately and that mexico would reimburse the united states for the cost. as donald trump faced the media, his nominee for secretary of state, rex tillerson, was facing questions from a conformation panel of senators considering his suitability for thejob. it lasted around nine hours. the oil executive

they hired the former mi6 guy in london.went to his sources, sources over many years apparently he'd cultivated in russia, and they began to tell him ostensibly about their knowledge of relationships with donald trump, with businesses that he was associated, and it became a ball that started rolling from there if we are to believe these assertions. then at a certain point the mi6 man in london thought the information was sufficient to take to the fbi himself. he walked it into an fbi station in rome where he knew a colleague in the intelligence business in august, gave him the information. it came back to washington. then subsequently a former ambassador to russia from great britain also became aware of this information, brought it to the attention of senator john mccain, a 35-page report prepared by the mi6 agent of these purported allegations. and mccain thought it sufficient and serious enough that he took it to director james comey of the fbi himself. they had a meeting. it has been left at the fbi by senator mccain and

all written by a former member of mi6.pher steele, now at the centre of controversy. his house was unoccupied today. he's supposed to have told neighbours to look after his cats and he is said to be lying low, fearing for his safety. so what do we know about christopher steele? he's 52. in the 19905 he worked undercover for mi6 in moscow. after leaving, he founded a private intelligence company called orbis. last year he was commissioned by trump's opponents to look into the tycoon‘s russian connections. he ended up with 35 pages of allegations about his professional and personal life. orbis are based here. there is no sign of chris steele. he is a man with contacts in moscow. but so far there has been no confirmation that the extraordinary allegations he dug up there are definitely true. thanks to his past as a spy, steele is unlikely to have been able to travel to moscow himself so instead will have relied on others to gather information. moscow's a difficult place to work in. the russians have a habit of secrecy and dec

one further thing — this former mi6 officer is not the only source.ugust who said he had been told of the existence of a blackmail tape by the head of an east european intelligence agency over the summer. we should stress in all of this that these are allegations and mr trump is literally correct when he says they are unsubstantiated. nevertheless, america's are in an incredible position nine days before an inauguration to decide whether or not their president is a russian agent of influence. the japanese president begins a six—day tour of asia—pacific nations. he will visit indonesia, vietnam, australia and the philippines. the call comes at a time of uncertainty over the attitude of the trump administration to the region. the president of the philippines has ordered government agencies to offer free contraceptives to an estimated 6 million women who cannot get hold of them. his plans are seen as controversial in a majority catholic country. but the president says he wa nts to country. but the president says he wants to reduce the number of u nwa nte

and the fact that it's somebody from mi6 in and of itself doesn't mean that it's fact. i think this is the kind of report that does require that you have to look at a number of different sources to see whether or not it really is true. you know, you get this kind of stuff -- we call it over the transom kind of intelligence all the time, and you have to question the sources and you have to question the credibility of those sources. i think that's what's happening here. neebs been able to in fact prove what he's been talking about is true. >> you said something there i want to follow up on. you said this is the kind of thing you get over the transom all the time. when you read these 35 pages and the allegations in them, is this the sort of thing you've seen many times, the sort of thing you see in opposition research that one candidate would prepare about another? is this sort of common or not? >> i think it's very common. you get this kind of rnl --esea- i've seen it in politics. you get all kinds of information on an opponent and you really have to, if you're careful, y

the bbc understands that the memo is an mr trump were compiled by a former member of mi6, christopherthe director of national intelligence has now called the president—elect. he said the lea k the president—elect. he said the leak did not come from within us intelligence and they have not made anyjudgement that intelligence and they have not made any judgement that the information is reliable. as donald trump move the media towards his business dealings he confirmed he was handing total control of his empire to his two suns. these papers are just some of the many documents i have signed at turning over complete and total control to my suns. that is proving troublesome as well. the ethics committee has now said his plan does not meet past presidential standards. this performance was a typically eccentric and bombastic piece of political theatre which is supporters will love but it did little to calm the swell of controversies which surround this president—elect. live now to washington, and the bbc‘s laura bicker. laura, he answered the question he way he wanted to, so he is a good posi

he has now been named as christopher steele, a former mi6 agent who was in moscow in the early 19905.y 1990s. speaking to one intelligence source, he has apparently —— is a p pa re ntly source, he has apparently —— is apparently very highly regarded among his peers as competent and trustworthy and that reputation, i think, is one of the main reasons why what he said, the allegations he repeated from russian security officers, were taken so seriously by the american intelligence institutions. i spoke to one intermediary, you can't speak to cia case officer ‘s directory but a message came back from the people dealing with this file that they found it credible, that there was more than one take, that there was an audio tape as well as a video tape, that there were several times that these activities supposedly took place and in more than one location, not just the took place and in more than one location, notjust the ritz—carlton in moscow but ain't petersburg as well. the fact that the cia a p pa re ntly well. the fact that the cia apparently finds these allegations credible and credibl

mr belhaj intends to sue the former foreign secretary, jack straw, who was responsible for mi6 at thebout security at a tunisian resort where 30 britons were killed by an islamist gunman were raised months before the attack took place. the inquest has heard that a report in january, 2015 for the uk government suggested there was a low standard of protection at some hotel entrances in the area of sousse. the annual rate of inflation, measured by the consumer prices index, rose more than expected in december to its highest level for two—and—a—half years. it rose to 1.6% last month, driven in part by the fall in the value of sterling after the brexit vote, as well a rise in air fares and food prices. 0ur economics correspondent andrew verity has been looking at the figures. this haulier based near heathrow airport is facing sharply higher costs. fuel had been falling in price, but on today's inflation numbers it's up by 10%. the company can absorb that cost but not forever. if the cost of the fuel starts to bite, eventually we will have to put a fuel surcharge in like everybody else in t

it was definitely originally compiled by a former british intelligence agent, this report, from an mi6pposition research company, in washington, dc, a companyi research company, in washington, dc, a company i know quite well, and have visited often. they worked first of all fourjeb bush's superpacs in the republican primaries and then for an anonymous democratic party donor. the allegations themselves are extremely limited and out of fairness to mr trump and anybody under the age of 18 watching i don't think we should relate them. here is the crucial point. i was able to send a message into the cia in november to ask about these allegations. it is illegal for about these allegations. it is illegalfor any about these allegations. it is illegal for any official to talk to me about them but i got a message back from an intermediary who said the allegations were regarded as credible, and more than that, there was more than a single source, not just the mi6 man. there was supposedly more than one take, not just video but audio, more amaq more than one date and notjust in moscow but in st pe

mr steele had worked on the russian desk at mi6 for 20 years.itish embassy in moscow. more recently, he had been hired to gather information on mr trump, first by republicans and later democrats. the allegations he uncovered were handed to the fbi. with nothing to support it, the media steered clear until a two—page summary was handed to president obama this week and mr trump himself. as early as last summer, there were reports circulating that the russians had a tape. whether or not the sources were telling the truth, we wait to see. these allegations are being treated as credible by the us intelligence community. compromat, is how the russians describe it. a spy craft long used by the russian kgb, now the fsb, two ensure the loyalty of politicians. this year, the former prime minister, now a leading opposition figure, was allegedly taped having sex with his assistant behind his wife's back. he blamed the fsb. even if there is no film, mr trump's presidency might already be compromised and not only by his dealings with russia. yesterday, he ced

credibility to brief trump on these claims and vouched for the credibility of their author, a former mi6at gave them traction. these were based on memos compiled by a former british intelligence operative, whose past work us intelligence officials consider credible. when that had aired, the reports ended up online. the documents, marked confidential and sensitive source, argue the russian government had been backing trump for at least five years. one makes salacious claims about his alleged use of prostitutes, and that the fsb had either arranged or moderate them. the latest memo details a meeting in moscow between carter page and senior russian officials. one source suggests the russians have compromising material on both trump and hillary clinton. a kremlin spokesman is alleged to have led the campaign to help trump and damage his opponent. he today issued his own denial. there were also alleged meetings between trump lawyer michael cohen and kremlin officials. one suggests he met kremlin officials in 2016. michael cohen says he has never been to moscow. cnn reported may have been a di

we'll talk to a former mi6 officer and a man who's been personally caught up in the storm.rt from cyprus, where signs are that reunification could be close. but in some quarters, wounds still run deep. i don't believe a solution will come in the next two generations, probably. if they start changing the education system, if they start changing the dhekelia, even now they are spreading hate instead of love. we ask the northern cypriot representative to the uk whether a deal can be struck. and we talk to choreographer wayne mcgregor about how science and dance collides. and even more crucially... do you think anyone can dance? everyone can dance. everyone does dance. some people like to dance when when no—one's looking and that's fine, right. i think what's interesting, everybody has a personal physical signature. good evening.

unconfirmed super inflammatory dossier was reportly collected by a well respected former mi6 british intelligence operative. it was published online last month wrop that former british intelligence operative promptly disappeared. he took himself off the grid. his business partner said he did it for his own safety. bfs that there was the joint intelligence report from the nsa, the cia, the fbi, the office of director of national intelligence. we all saw the unclassified version, high-ranking officials in our own government saw the classified version. either way it contained these very detailed allegations about a russian government campaign designed to influence our election ordered and directed from the highest levels from putin's office and carried out through cyber attacks, through strategic leaks of stolen information, through complex, sophisticated propaganda efforts designed to hurt hillary clinton's chances in the election and bolster donald trump's. before that was it was the statement in october when the department of homeland security and director of national intelligence wa

christopher steele, the former mi6 agent who wrote the reports into donald trump's alleged activities a dossier of what he calls totally made up claims linking him to russia. moscow has dismissed the allegations as pulp fiction. well, one person who knows about fact and fiction is the author frederick forsyth — famed for his spy novels but who also worked for mi6 for 20 years. we can speak to him now from buckinghamshire. the to talk to you. you couldn't make this up, i suppose. you could make this up, i suppose. you could make it up as a novel, but what did you take of russian intelligence now, using the same techniques that the kgb used for many years? presumably, they still do it? let me get this out of the way it can. if it isa get this out of the way it can. if it is a question of do they have the immorality to mount the situation aimed at destroying the character of the foreign politician? the answer is yes, in a heartbeat. in fact, they do targeted assassinations, as they do targeted assassinations, as they did of mr litvinenko in a british hospital. they might do it, there is

let me bring in nigel, a former employee of mi6. the belief torture works? in one sense, mi6.ion they could, they threw them at the back of a hercules over the south atlantic. they did defeat the opposition, but at an awful cost in terms of the society, which still bears the scars. to say that torture works is a bit like saying that slavery works as a model of economic production. it is not the conversation we ought to be having. what do you think donald trump suggesting that waterboarding, the ban on waterboarding, may be reversed? he has cunningly qualified it by saying he would support the director of the cia and the defence secretary if they asked for it. i knowjames matias secretary if they asked for it. i know james matias by secretary if they asked for it. i knowjames matias by reputation. he isa knowjames matias by reputation. he is a thoughtful, educated man who took 6000 books with him to iraq to read. i don't know mike pompeo but he comes across as intelligent and accomplished. i would he comes across as intelligent and accomplished. iwould be he comes across as int

intelligence operatives are recruited from by the british establishment, shortly after 1986 he joined mi6hose colleagues dwr s desc him as somebody whose work ethics, professionalism, work style is beyond reproach, that they describe him in very strong, clear, glowing terms. what we do know about him is that the british football association approached him in 2010 to help them investigate the world cup bidding process. there were concerns about russia's bid for the world cup, the bid for 2022. that would later bring him into contact with fbi officials who were investigating corruption within fifa. our evan perez has told law enforcement officials that he has -- it was that work that steele did with the british football association with fifa that gave an investigating into fifa, gave them confidence through their work with him as well into the fifa investigation, gave confidence into steele. >> all right. thank you very much. nic robertson. >>> next, commander in chief. we hear from the woman who wrote the book on michelle obama's iconic style. >>> plus, life after the white house. we'll te

originally compiled by a former british intelligence agent, a mi6 man.position research company in washington, dc. the company i know quite well and have visited often. working forjeb bush's super pack, and the party donor. the allegations are extremely low ridge. out of fairness to mr trump and anybody under the age of 18, we should not relate them. here is the crucial point. i was able to send a message into the cia in november to ask them about the allegations, legal for any official to talk to me about them. i got a message through an intermediary, where they were regarded as credible, and there was more than a single source, not just credible, and there was more than a single source, notjust the mi6 man. more than one tape supposedly, not just video but audio, more than one date, not just the allegations in moscow, but st petersburg. busy moscow would not respond to these allegations. they are regarded by credible by the us intelligence community. let's p2 professor from the university of birmingham. what you make the credibility of these claims? th