mr cummings says action should have been taken then.o being overwhelmed, and he claims the prime minister rejected the idea of a short circuit breaker lockdown in england. some experts agree that was a mistake. there was a lot of arguments in favour of taking early action in the autumn, in september, when we could see that cases were rising again and we didn't have vaccines. people had been able to travel, and we had reimported infection back into the country, people moving around. we should have done something earlier. the number of uk deaths is one of the highest of leading industrialised nations. mr cummings said mistakes had been made, and he was sorry for his part in them. adrian hamer died with covid on boxing day aged 55. his widow, lisa, says today's developments provide no comfort. mistakes have been made. people need to be accountable for their actions. and they need to take accountability. they all need to take accountability and learn, because if this ever happens again, god help us. more chances to learn will come with a pu

thank you, chair, thank you mr cummings- — telly. thank you, chair, thank you mr cummings. y, he was finalising his divorce, his girlfriend wanted to announce being pregnant, and engagement, and, you know, his finances and all that sort of stuff. i mean, certainly in february, he had a very difficult time mid february in his private life, for sure. ~ . �* , february in his private life, for sure. ~ ., �* , ., february in his private life, for sure. ~ . �* y ., ., february in his private life, for sure. ., �* , ., ., , sure. what i'm trying to get at is, civen the sure. what i'm trying to get at is, given the fact _ sure. what i'm trying to get at is, given the fact the _ sure. what i'm trying to get at is, given the fact the prime - sure. what i'm trying to get at is, given the fact the prime ministerl sure. what i'm trying to get at is, i given the fact the prime minister is currently writing a book, the fact he has reportedly spent time seeking private donations to fund his own lifestyle, do you think that is a useful way for a prime minister to spend his time, given the f

inevitably mr cummings' conduct itself came up.y about a trip that he made with his family from london to county durham. here's our deputy political editor vicky young. we'd all been told to stay at home, but dominic cummings didn't. he in fact travelled to his parents' home in durham. before setting off, he was seen rushing out of downing street after discovering his wife had covid. weeks later, in the rose garden at downing street, he was forced to explain. i was worried that if my wife and i were both seriously ill, possibly hospitalised, there was nobody in london that we could reasonably ask to look after our child and expose themselves to covid. but today he revealed another version of events. my wife called saying, "there's a gang of people outside saying they're going to break into the house and kill everybody inside." so it was actually repeated security threats which prompted the move to durham. but when the story erupted, mr cummings decided not to mention that. now, at this point i madejust a terrible, terrible, terribl

mr cummings vitriol was a country. — mr cummings vitriol was saved for the health secretary.to runway from a long list of accusations.— list of accusations. i think that the secretary _ list of accusations. i think that the secretary of _ list of accusations. i think that the secretary of state - list of accusations. i think that the secretary of state for - list of accusations. i think that l the secretary of state for health should have been fired for at least 15, 20 thing, including... find 15, 20 thing, including... and ”uttin 15, 20 thing, including... and putting people _ 15, 20 thing, including... and putting people in _ 15, 20 thing, including... and putting people in care homes in danger. putting people in care homes in dancer. ., . .,, danger. the government rhetoric was we ut a danger. the government rhetoric was we put a shield _ danger. the government rhetoric was we put a shield round _ danger. the government rhetoric was we put a shield round care _ danger. the government rhetoric was we put a shield round care home, - danger. the government rhetoric was we put

mr cummings says action should have been taken then.of a short circuit breaker lockdown in england. some experts agree that was a mistake. there was a lot of arguments in favour of taking early action in the autumn, in september, when we could see that cases were rising again and we didn't have vaccines. people had been able to travel, and we had reimported infection back into the country, people moving around. we should have done something earlier. the number of uk deaths is one of the highest of leading industrialised nations. mr cummings said mistakes had been made, and he was sorry for his part in them. adrian hamer died with covid on boxing day aged 55. his widow, lisa, says today's developments provide no comfort. mistakes have been made. people need to be accountable for their actions. and they need to take accountability. they all need to take accountability and learn, because if this ever happens again, god help us. more chances to learn will come with a public inquiry next year. others will give their version of events. some m

i can't speak- for mr cummings and one individual. he said _ for mr cummings and one individual. one individual. he said it was in all the paperwork and all the crucial meetings but if you say it is not true presumably he cannot be ringing hard evidence of this. ~ ., ., ., , �* this. what i would say to this, i'm not auoin this. what i would say to this, i'm not going to _ this. what i would say to this, i'm not going to comment _ this. what i would say to this, i'm not going to comment on - this. what i would say to this, i'm not going to comment on what. this. what i would say to this, i'mj not going to comment on what mr cummings— not going to comment on what mr cummings is going to say of also what _ cummings is going to say of also what is _ cummings is going to say of also what is been speculated about right now. �* ,., what is been speculated about right now. �* , ., ., ., what is been speculated about right now. ~ ., ., ., now. also on that same programme, we heard from a _ now. also on that same programme, we heard from a doctor _ now. also on that same programme, we hea

, are not fans of mr cummings.ust in the government and he was self—indulgent and a bit of a narcissist and i was about the issue of that lockdown trip to durham came up, it is interesting that mr cummings evolved, but a year ago when he was in the rose garden at downing street, he told us all that he took his family up to the north of england during lockdown we may be with that he was breaking the rules because i want to make sure there was childcare for his family if he and his wife fell ill. there was a bit more to the story that we found out today which was that he had discussed before that, with the prime minister, the idea that he would move his family out of london for security reasons and was worried about the number of people turning up about the number of people turning up in the street and giving him and his family abuse of the governments actions. so there was a bit more to the story than we back at the time that be suspect there will be some more questions over that over the next few days. but the big

i cannot speak for mr cummings and - cummings saying it is true? cummings and one individual. , ., ,., individual. the government said it followed the _ individual. the government said it followed the signs _ individual. the government said it followed the signs and _ individual. the government said it followed the signs and acted - individual. the government said it followed the signs and acted to i individual. the government said it i followed the signs and acted to save lives in nhs. dominic cummings will have his chance to put his thoughts before parliament this week. and the latest government figures on coronavirus show 2,235 new infections in the latest 24—hour period, which means an average ofjust over 2,500 cases per day, in the last week. five deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, and that means an average of six deaths per day in the past week. the total number of uk deaths is now 127,721. just over 200,000 people have received a first vaccine dose in the last 24 hours. in total, almost 38 million people have now had their firstjab.

mr cummings claimed covid mr cummings claimed that covid spread like wildfire through care homes because the health secretary responding to that. we committed to building for testing capacity to allow that to happen. of course, it takes time to build testing capacity. in fact, one of the critical things we did was that the critical things we did was that the 100,000 target back then to make sure we built that texting capacity, and it was very a effective in doing so. here's what else mr cummings had to say about the health secretary on wednesday. i think the secretary of state for health _ i think the secretary of state for health should have been fired for at least 15, _ health should have been fired for at least 15, 20 things, including lying to everybody in multiple occasions, and meeting after meeting. here he is defending himself in parliament earlier today over those claims. i welcome the opportunity to come to the house to put formally on the record that these unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true, and that i've been straight with people in public and in private

mr. cummings is and what his motives were. but i think that is why it is so striking. s the first account from deep inside the government. >> dominic cummings was answering questions on the government response to the pandemic. here he is with boris johnson in 2019. he was part of the prime minister's inner circle. he was also chief advisor to the prime minister when the pandemic hit in march of last year. in november, he quit. here he is leaving downing street. there is an awful lot to work through from this testimony. let's start with mr. cummings questioning the eligibility of many of those in charge of decisions last year, including himself. >> completely crackers that someone like me had been in there. >> earlier he took aim at e health secretary matt hancock. mr. cummings accused him of a cover-up and a failure to set up an adequate testing system. >> the secretary of state for healthhould have been fired for at least 15 or 20 things, including two lying everybody in multiple occasions in meeting after meeting. >> a spokesperson for matt hancock has rejected mr. mm

thank you for joining us, mr cummings. referred to failures— joining us, mr cummings.logies. is at a fair assessment however to say that there _ fair assessment however to say that there has— fair assessment however to say that there has been a wealth of expert knowledge, even from university papers _ knowledge, even from university papers that have researched covid? there _ papers that have researched covid? there is _ papers that have researched covid? there is a _ papers that have researched covid? there is a wealth of expert knowledge and in sage themselves, they have _ knowledge and in sage themselves, they have discussed... they have said that — they have discussed... they have said that flights from china were not the — said that flights from china were not the only road for infected individuals to enter the uk. we now know— individuals to enter the uk. we now know that _ individuals to enter the uk. we now know that many cases were in fact from _ know that many cases were in fact from europe. sol know that many cases were in fact from europe. so i have this exp

he defied the scientists so what sticks out is mr cummings, — scientists so what sticks out is mr cummingsummings. the people needlessly died, according to mr cumminqs-_ mr cummings. the odd thing is that this was very _ mr cummings. the odd thing is that this was very high _ mr cummings. the odd thing is that this was very high on _ mr cummings. the odd thing is that this was very high on the _ this was very high on the government�*s risk register. in fact, we were scored internationally second in terms of pandemic preparedness on a global scale. the second. and yet, when you look at the number of deaths, we finished near the bottom of the table. titer? near the bottom of the table. very near the bottom of the table. very near the bottom of the table. very near the bottom. _ near the bottom of the table. very near the bottom. again, that was a point _ near the bottom. again, that was a point that— near the bottom. again, that was a point that mr cummings raised and set essentially, the uk government had been _ set essentially, the uk government had been preparing for the wrong kind of— ha

in a series of tweets last night mr cummings described the government's handling of the crisis as a " and claimed that "lives and money" were needlessly lost. 0ur political correspondent greg dawson told me mr cummings is due to face questions on the issue from mps on wednesday. he of course was the prime minister's chief adviser at that time. now, via a series of tweets he's giving an indication of what he's going to tell those mps. he is making the claim that the government's official plan was this policy of herd immunity via infection, effectively letting the virus spread throughout the population to boost immunity levels. he says the government only abandoned that idea when it was warned by scientists of the consequences. now mr cummings in his tweets describes those consequences as hundreds of thousands of people choking to death. today the government have flatly denied those claims, the home secretary priti patel was on the andrew marr show earlier this morning and she says the policy was about saving lives and protecting the nhs. can you now admit as government that herd immuni

hasse's well you know this is a perry interesting point do you raise because mr cummings is being blamednot least by mr johnson himself through wentz of the lengths of ringing up newspaper editors a few weeks ago and saying that the source of the beast story about him and by cecil paper and that sort of thing or was was mr cummings and of course now this he's had this election trying mr johnson his allies are already will now say that will paper thing all those the militias episodes the standards inquiry announced that they into his holiday mistakes alas that man cummings is in bases there tension to him and that is a way to try to divert attention from the fact that the integrity of the prime minister is and has i mean territorial fashion and that's a real importance doesn't matter who says these things that has arisen over will quite right there's going to be a real a chance to say certain british journalists and sued the world at large that somehow mr johnson is behind a paint ticket virus by the by the elections. no uniform of colleague of the prime minister did above highly complime

has as well you know this is a very interesting point do you raise because mr cummings is being blamed not least like mr johnson himself through wentz of the lengths of rigging up newspaper editors a few weeks ago and saying that the source of the beast story about him advices will paper and that sort of thing or was was mr cummings and of course now that he's had the selection trial mr johnson's allies are already will now say oh that will paper thing or the us the latest episode as the status inquiry and announce that they into his holiday mistakes alas that man comics isn't visit their pretension to him and that is a way to try to divert attention from the fact that the integrity of the prime minister is and has i mean terribly old fashioned amass a real importance as moses says these things as a reason he did he do the will quite right as good to be a real a chance to say a certain british journalists and suit the world at large that somehow mr johnson has been handed a painting kit virus by the by the elections. i know you're a father a colleague of the prime minister and did of a

mr cummings is due to appear before mps this week. ur political correspondent damian grammaticus. late last year, and out of downing street. dominic cummings had been boris johnson's closest aide. now he is spilling his stories, even if they damage his former boss. the events he wants to highlight? last march, and how the prime minister handled the start of the pandemic. in spain and italy, covid was spreading fast, lockdowns being brought in. in the uk, lockdowns came ten days later. mr cummings says mr johnson's strategy was different, to try for herd immunity, letting people build natural resistance. he tweeted today:. he says it only changed when officials... and he adds:. in march of last year, the government's behavioural scientists did talk about cocooning only the most vulnerable. by the time they come out of their cocooning, herd immunity has been achieved by the rest of the population. and the chief scientific adviser, two days later. it is not possible to stop everybody getting it and it is also actually not desirable becaus

our political correspondent rob watson has more on why mr cummings' testimony was so significant. nishing seven hours, astonishing because of the breadth, if you like, of dominic cummings' critique. and because of course this is the first account of deep inside the government — i mean, you couldn't get much deeper than dominic cummings — of exactly how the covid crisis unfolded. of course, in a way that's profoundly unflattering to the british system and of course to several key politicians, including the prime minister. now, people will of course question just what kind of a witness mr cummings is and what his motives were, but i think that's why it's so striking. it is this first account from deep, deep inside the government. in the us, at least nine people have been killed in a shooting at a rail maintenance yard in sanjose, california. others are injured. the number of dead includes the gunman, who also worked at the rail facility. mark lobel reports. this light rail service yard south of san francisco is now a crime scene. a bomb squad was dispatched after an employee shot his

more now on mr cummings giving evidence to a parliamentary committee — in a year of disputes and controversiesithin government, one of the most talked—about events during the first lockdown was dominic cummings�* infamous trip to barnard castle in county durham, the purpose of which, he claimed, was to test his eyesight. he admitted he hadn't told the whole story, he apologised for his handling of the matter, but said there were security reasons for the trip which he should have been more open about. our deputy political editor vicky young reports. we'd all been told to stay at home, but dominic cummings didn't. he, in fact, travelled to his parents' home in durham. before setting off, he was seen rushing out of downing street after discovering his wife had covid. weeks later, in the rose garden at downing street, he was forced to explain. i was worried that if my wife and i were both seriously ill, possibly hospitalised, there was nobody in london that we could reasonably ask to look after our child and expose themselves to covid. but today he revealed another version of events. my wife calle

i crrr’i�*t know mr cummings or mr hancock.moment. can you talk throu:h, as at the moment. can you talk through, because i as at the moment. can you talk through, because so i as at the moment. can you talk through, because so much - as at the moment. can you talk through, because so much has| as at the moment. can you talk- through, because so much has been discussed about the release of care home residents from hospitals into care homes without being tested and matt hancock was asked about it in the comments and he said that throughout the government followed clinical advice on care homes but dominic cummings' clinical advice on care homes but dominic cummings ' recollection was, we were told people would be tested before going back to care homes and we only found out subsequently that hadn't happened. the rules on discharging residents to care homes on the 2nd of april said negative covid test were not required on being discharged from hospital so what was the chain of events as far as you remember back then? i what was the

mr cummings will have his chance to produce his own evidence before parliament this week.ongo, where people have started to return to their homes after one of the world�*s most active volcanoes erupted on saturday night. thousands of homes were destroyed and at least five people died in the rush to get away from the lava, which stopped just short of the city of goma. here�*s our africa correspondent reha kansara. —— at least 15. this is one of the world�*s deadliest volcanoes. mount nyiragongo erupted late saturday night, setting homes and roads on fire. the first warning came when a thick orange cloud illuminated the night sky. locals fled in desperation. some of them to neighbouring rwanda, others to a nearby town. translation: it's something we've never seen before. - we�*re all together, shaken. translation: we watched the whole neighbourhood go up in smoke. - the fire came right down to here. even now, we can still see lava. the last time nyiragongo erupted, its consequences were devastating. 250 people died and hundreds of thousands were left homeless. aid agencies s

the telegraph does the same, referring to mr cummings' attack on the two men as "revenge".times pays particular attention to the commons made about borisjohnson, after mr cummings said he felts ——the financial times pays particular attention to the comments made about borisjohnson, after mr cummings said he felts he was "unfit" to be pm he also said tens of thousands of people died unnecessarily as a result of the government's response to the pandemic, which the guardian leads with the i also looks at this line, whilst noting that the chief scientific advisers — patrick vallance and chris whitty — were spared. let's begin with the daily mail. i think it was, a lot of speculation before today about how much impact this will make with the public. at the proof is, it was a really significant day of testimony from the prime minister's former senior adviser. i think the reason for that, it wasn't even so much the fine—grained details of dominic cummings account that we got, and he said some pretty explosive things about matt hancock, accused him of lying on several occasions, so

but mr cummings's claims have - everything we could. but mr. ng we could. but mr- cummings's claims have made him a temporary friend of the labour leader. ~ ~' ., �* temporary friend of the labour leader. . ~ ., �* ., ., temporary friend of the labour leader. ~ ., �* ., ., ., leader. we know we've got one of the hiuhest leader. we know we've got one of the highest death — leader. we know we've got one of the highest death tolls _ leader. we know we've got one of the highest death tolls in _ leader. we know we've got one of the highest death tolls in europe, - leader. we know we've got one of the highest death tolls in europe, and - highest death tolls in europe, and the families — highest death tolls in europe, and the families who _ highest death tolls in europe, and the families who have _ highest death tolls in europe, and the families who have lost - highest death tolls in europe, and l the families who have lost someone are entitled — the families who have lost someone are entitled to— the families who have lost someone are entitled to answ

. _ mr cummings' real vitriol was saved for the health secretary, who may notjust be able to run awaya long list of accusations. i think that the secretary of state for health should've been fired for at least 15, 20 things, including lying to everybody on multiple occasions in meeting after meeting in the cabinet room and publicly. whether he claimed misleading on testing, on ppe and putting people in care homes in danger. the government rhetoric was we put a shield around care homes and blah, blah, blah. it was complete nonsense. quite the opposite of putting a shield around them, we sent people with covid back to the care homes. the health secretary's team has rejected his claims. but then there were accusations that the prime minister wouldn't listen to mr cummings all the top scientists to bring back lockdown to save lives in the autumn, as covid began to take hold again and cases rose. i said to him, the whole lesson of what happened before is, that by delaying the lockdown came later, it had to be more severe, it had to last longer. surely we've got to learn the lessons from th

well, i can't speak for mr cummings and one individual.t followed the science and acted to protect lives and the nhs. mr cummings will have his chance to produce his own evidence before parliament this week. damian grammaticus, bbc news. and the latest government figures on coronavirus show 2,235 new infections in the latest 24—hour period — which means an average ofjust over two and a half thousand cases per day, in the last week. five deaths were recorded in the last 2a hours, and that means an average of six deaths per day in the past week. the total number of uk deaths is now 127,721. and, turning to the vaccination programme... just over 200,000 people have received a first vaccine dose in the last 2a hours. in total, almost 38 million people have now had their firstjab. that's 72% of the adult population. nearly 557,000 people had their second dose in the past 2a hrs and takes the overall number in that group, to more than 22.6 million or 43% of the adult population. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered i

the health secretary has also robustly defended claims by mr cummings that he's a liar and should have been sacked. these unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true and that i've been straight with people, in public and in private, throughout. we'll have the latest, live from westminster. also this lunchtime... gps in england say they're facing a "tsunami of patients" as the country emerges from lockdown. hundreds of children are rescued during operations against county lines drugs gangs. scientists believe at least one of the next five years could be 1.5 celsius hotter than pre—industrial levels, smashing climate change targets. and a very special reunion — the friends get back together for the first time in 17 years. and coming up on the bbc news channel — marcus rashford reveals he received at least 70 racist messages after manchester united's defeat to villarreal in the europa league last night. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. borisjohnson has denied allegations made by his former top advisor, dominic cummings, that poor handling of the early stages

well, i can't speak for mr cummings and one individual, but what...say it's not true, he said it was on all the graphs, it was on all the paperwork in those crucial meetings. presumably, therefore, he cannot be bringing hard evidence of this, if you say it's not true. so, what i would say to this, i'm not going to comment on what mr cummings is going to say or also what is being speculated about right now. this isn't just anybody this isn'tjust anybody coming forward with these claims, is it? no, this is a man who was in the room when these decisions were being made at the start of the pandemic, and don't forget, before he left downing street last november, dominic cummings was a man whose opinion is borisjohnson valued greatly. and tweet by tweet over the last 2a hours, he is revealing those opinions, and they are very damning and critical of the prime minister and critical of the prime minister and of this government. just cuickl , and of this government. just quickly. we _ and of this government. just quickly, we are _ and of this government. just

well, i can't speak for mr cummings and one individual.nd acted to protect lives and the nhs. mr cummings will have his chance to produce his own evidence before parliament this week. damian grammaticus, bbc news. the sister of the murdered british mpjo cox has been chosen as labour's candidate to fight a by—election in the constituency of batley and spen in west yorkshire. kim leadbeater said she was "overwhelmed and humbled" by the support she had received from party members in the seat her sister used to represent. the headlines on bbc news. the head of nato demands an international investigation into the forced landing in minsk — ordered by the president of belarus — of a flight with a belarussian opposition activist on board. a mountain cable car plunges to the ground in northern italy killing 1a people. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. what a final day in south carolina it could be for phil mickelson. the american leads golf�*s pga championship. if he goes on to win, he'll be the oldest man to lift a major ti

mr cummings went on to say— into care homes. mr cummings went on to say that _ into care homes. prime - minister subsequently found out that hadn't _ minister subsequently found out that hadn't happened _ minister subsequently found out that hadn't happened. he _ minister subsequently found out that hadn't happened. he said, _ minister subsequently found out that hadn't happened. he said, far- minister subsequently found out that hadn't happened. he said, far from i hadn't happened. he said, far from putting _ hadn't happened. he said, far from putting a _ hadn't happened. he said, far from putting a shield _ hadn't happened. he said, far from putting a shield around _ hadn't happened. he said, far from putting a shield around people - hadn't happened. he said, far from| putting a shield around people they were sent _ putting a shield around people they were sent back— putting a shield around people they were sent back to _ putting a shield around people they were sent back to care _ putting a shield around people they were sent back to care homes- were sent back to care homes u

mr cummings will appear before a parliamentary commitee.me an arch—critic of his former boss since leaving number ten last november. downing street says throughout the pandemic, the government's priority has been to save lives. helen catt has the latest. it was a year ago that one of the prime minister's most senior behind—the—scenes advisers found himself in the spotlight. this was dominic cummings taking the highly unusual step of giving a press conference in the garden of downing street after he made a trip from london to durham while england was in its first lockdown. it included a drive to barnard castle, he said, to test his eyesight before heading home. but the whole point was i had been extremely ill, my vision had been a bit weird, we were all going to go back, my wife said, we should drive down the road and you should see if you can actually drive and your vision is weird or if you are ok. and i thought, that's a good idea, i should do. today, he will be quizzed again but this time it will be mps asking the questions in their own

we quizzed mr cummings said these remains allegations.— quizzed mr cummings said these remains allegationsor evidence to be _ remains allegations. we asked for evidence to be provided _ remains allegations. we asked for evidence to be provided and - remains allegations. we asked for evidence to be provided and until| evidence to be provided and until such evidence is provided those allegations should be treated as unproven. allegations should be treated as unroven. , ., , ., unproven. over seven hours of testimony. _ unproven. over seven hours of testimony, dominic— unproven. over seven hours of testimony, dominic cummings j unproven. over seven hours of - testimony, dominic cummings savaged the government's confidence, a government he was at the heart of. the family is grieving the loss of loved ones, these latest claims of been hard to heat. fun whole's husband steve contracted covid just a few weeks after their wedding and died a day before his 66th birthday. if decisions had been made differently and the virus hadn't been allowed to spread the way that it did into care homes, into hosp

you have made that point, mr cummings... couldn't get to grips with the test and trace until we got it out of dh's hands into a separate agency. 0k. those are very serious allegations said under parliamentary privilege, and we've got mr hancock coming here in two weeks' time to respond to those. but, as greg clarke said, we'd be grateful for any evidence that you have to back up those assertions before mr hancock comes to this committee. in a statement, a spokesperson for matt hancock�* said, "we absolutely reject mr cummings' claims about the health secretary." well, he was no less critical about the prime minister, suggesting that he had come to regret the first lockdown. last month, sources told the bbc that borisjohnson had said he would rather see "bodies pile high" than take the country into a third lockdown. did you hear him say "let the bodies pile high- in their thousands," or, "it's only killing - 80—year—olds"? there's been a few different versions of these stories knocking around. there was a version of it in the

mr cummings' real vitriol was saved, though, for the health secretary, who may notjust be able to runong list of accusations. i think that the secretary of state for health should've been fired for at least 15, 20 things, including lying to everybody on multiple occasions in meeting after meeting in the cabinet room and publicly. whether, he claimed, misleading on testing, on ppe and putting people in care homes in danger. the government rhetoric was, "we put a shield around care homes and blah, blah, blah." it was complete nonsense. quite the opposite of putting a shield round them, we sent people with covid back to the care homes. the health secretary's team has rejected his claims, but then there were accusations that the prime minister wouldn't listen to mr cummings or the top scientists to bring back lockdown to save lives in the autumn as covid began to take hold again and cases rose. i said to him, "the whole lesson of what happened before is that by delaying, the lockdown came later, it had to be more severe, it had to last longer. surely we've got to learn the lessons from th

well, i can't speak for mr cummings and one individual.says it followed the science and acted to protect lives and the nhs. mr cummings will have his chance to produce his own evidence before parliament this week. damian grammaticus, bbc news. scotland's health secretary says covid restrictions in glasgow could be eased if the number of people in intensive care does not go up. glasgow is the only part of scotland still in level three, and some businesses have criticised the decision to keep it under stricter measures. humza yousaf told the bbc ministers want to ease restrictions as soon as possible. he hopes after this week it'll become clear whether case numbers have led to a rise in icu patients in the city. and the latest government figures on coronavirus show 2,235 new infections in the latest 24—hour period, which means an average ofjust over 2,500 cases per day in the last week. five deaths were recorded in the last 2a hours, and that means an average of six deaths per day in the past week. the total number of uk deaths is now 127,72

did mr cummings tell the truth yesterday?road map that is the sensible way forward for this country... you're not arguing with what he said? i make no comment on that. the question i think people want to answer is, have we got enough of the protection that we want from the vaccines? to what extent is our vaccine shield now going to be enough to allow us to go ahead onjune the 21st with the unlocking? as i've said many times, i don't see anything currently in the data to suggest that we have to deviate from the road map. we may need to wait. don't forget the important point about the intervals between the steps of the road map. we put that five weeks between those steps to give us time to see what effect the unlockings are having. we did everything we could to protect the nhs and protect care homes as well. did you test anyone... we did everything we could to protect care homes and protect, i think 1.4 billion extra into infection control within care homes, we established a care homes action plan, i remember very clearly, to e

health secretary appeared the next day at the downing street briefing, laura kuenssberg put one of mr cummingsions to him. can you still stand there today and say it's true that you protected care homes from the start? and did you or did you not tell downing street that people leaving care homes would be tested before...? sorry, people leaving hospitals would be tested before? the health secretary's answer clearly didn't satisfy laura kuenssberg, as she tried to get in with a follow—up question, but it seemed her microphone was swiftly muted and the press conference moved on to another question. thanks very much, laura. next question's from carl dinnen from itv. the reaction from an m lloyd? as we saw on last week's newswatch, the recent hostilities in israel and gaza have been accompanied by a passionate debate about how fairly the media, including the bbc, have reported the conflict. that debate was reignited last weekend, when a series of tweets emerged written by tala halawa, a journalist working for bbc monitoring. they were posted in 2014 when she was working for a palestinian radio stat

a spokesman for mr hancock said, "we absolutely reject mr cummings�* claims about the health secretaryalso made an extraordinary attack on the prime minister, saying that borisjohnson was "unfit for the job." at 10:30 this morning, mr hancock will respond to an urgent question in the house of commons from labour. we will bring you that life. this report from our political correspondent, damian grammaticas. the health secretary — today, he's facing uncomfortable scrutiny and difficult questions, demanding answers. i think that the secretary of state for health should have been fired for at least 15, 20 things, including lying to everybody in multiple occasions in meeting after meeting in the cabinet room, and publicly. one claim from dominic cummings was that matt hancock misled him by saying people would be tested for covid before being moved from hospitals to care homes. the government rhetoric was, we put a shield around care homes and blah, blah, blah — it was complete nonsense. quite the opposite of putting a shield around them, we sent people with covid back to the care homes. he

well, i can't speak for mr cummings and one individual, but what...rue, he said it was on all the graphs, it was on all the paperwork in those crucial meetings. presumably, therefore, he cannot be bringing hard evidence of this, if you say it's not true. so, what i would say to this, i'm not going to comment on what mr cummings is going to say or also what is being speculated about right now. now, also on that same programme we heard from doctorjenny harries who advise the government at the outset of the pandemic as deputy chief medical officer. she also disputed dominic cummings' take of events. so, i can categorically say, i have never been in any government meeting where herd immunity was put forward at that point in the pandemic as a method for control. and i think it's really important for viewers to understand what we mean by herd immunity, because, actually, what we're doing with the vaccine, which everybody is very supportive of, is developing herd immunity. what we're saying is, when you have a population which has a high level of immune resp

the daily express questions the motives behind mr cummings�* comments, calling them "pure revenge".elegraph calls it revenge too, but it also highlights a claim that the health secretary should have been fired for "at least 15 to 20 things". like the mirror, the guardian leads with the former aide�*s comments that tens of thousands of deaths could have been avoided during the pandemic. and finally the daily mail looks at what it calls "domshell" revelations, focusing on criticisms of both men. it also pays attention to mr cummings�* controversial trip to barnard castle during the spring lockdown of 2020. about which, according to evidence given to parliament tree committees today, he says he didn't tell the whole truth. right, sonia, tom, do you want to kick it off for us this time with the times. dominic cummings rains fire on number ten. yes commits a good headline, is to? and pretty much sums it up. if you haven't read any of these sketches, i really urge you to read this for the times. it is absolutely wonderful. clinton has said that we the readers, the listeners for the domini

but mr cummings�* claims have made him a temporary political friend of the labour leader.e got one of the highest death tolls i in europe, and the families who havei lost someone are entitled to answers in relation to this, - because bad decisions have consequences, and in this case the consequence, i'm afraid, . are unnecessary deaths. but the minister who stepped into the most trouble is the health secretary. then i will be going to the house of commons and i will answer questions there. thanks very much. after his profile was under heavy attack, seeming to wind down the window for a better snap. the barbs at matt hancock came again and again... the secretary of state for health should have been fired for at least 15, 20 things, including lying to everybody. or, specifically, on what happened in care homes, where thousands died... the government rhetoric was, "we put a shield around care homes" and blah blah blah" — it was complete nonsense. listen to whether the denials were quite so complete today... these unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true, and th

mr cummings has admitted to government failures in handling the pandemic and said it meant tens of thousands't need to die. out of respect to those families, the over 128,000 families who lost their lives, will the secretary of state admit to the failures today and apologise? the pandemic has taken far too many people away far too soon, and that's happened in her family and it's happened in mine. and she's absolutely right that we need to ensure that we learn as a country how to prepare as well as we possibly can for pandemics in the future, as it is likely that pandemics will become more frequent, not less. matt hancock. covid continues to dominate politics throughout the uk. in wales, the labourfirst minister has been challenged over his government's plans to ease restrictions. unlike in england, there's no equivalent date tojune 21st when restrictions are due to end. mark drakeford was answering questions for the first time since the senedd elections. what is the first minister's view on the regulations that the events sectors in particular will have to deal with going forward, when we kn

but mr cummings' claims have made him a temporary political friend of the labour leader.got one of the highest death tolls i in europe, and the families who've . lost someone are entitled to answers in relation to this, because bad decisions have consequences. i and in this case, the consequences, |i'm afraid, are unnecessary deaths. | but the minister who stepped into the most trouble is the health secretary. then i'll be going to the house of commons, and i'll answer questions there. thanks very much. after his profile was under heavy attack, seeming to wind down the window for a better snap. the barbs at matt hancock came again and again. the secretary of state for health should've been fired for at least 15, 20 things, including lying to everybody. or, specifically, on what happened in care homes, where thousands died... the government rhetoric was, "we put a shield around care homes and blah blah blah" — it was complete nonsense. listen to whether the denials were quite so complete today. these unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true, and that i've be

is people will be allowed in but they are not but it could be quite a sensational statement from mr cummingsad a competent government. i conceived the possibly the second and third my arguably could have been avoided if the first one had been extended long enough, i'm not sure the first one could've been. he also makes the claim that the government policy was herd immunity in the early days which is something that the chief scientific adviser sir patrick vallance said and he says that matt hancock should have been fired. i'm not quite sure that woody given the nation whose confidence if we lost our health secretary right in the middle of the pandemic. —— would have given. middle of the pandemic. -- would have given-— middle of the pandemic. -- would have civen. . . . , have given. that language was struck in --eole have given. that language was struck in peeple who — have given. that language was struck in people who have _ have given. that language was struck in people who have lost _ have given. that language was struck in people who have lost family - in people who have lost family member