borisjohnson wanted to save his friend and former minister owen paterson from being punished for breaking—controlled committee to review the work of the standards watchdog. i think the thing that the paterson affair tells us most about is the government's attitude towards parliament. opening up the whole questions about how mps are dealt with by parliament, how the standards process works. but, on the basis of trying to save one individual case, and that blew up in their face. the ayes to the right, 238! the noes to the left, 232! borisjohnson forced his mps to vote for the plan. it backfired. the opposition parties refused to sit on the new committee. the prime minister conceded defeat. if you're being marched up the hill to defend, in this case, owen paterson, which isn't a sort of policy issue, this isn't. .. it was nothing to do with the manifesto, it's not part of government. then it's doubly galling when, lo and behold, you march down again and the government does a complete u—turn and we all look pretty silly at the end of it. owen paterson resigned as an mp. balloon pops. the cons

sorry to put it crudely but owen paterson had clearly broken the rules, the system said he had broken you said, "well, let's just rewrite the rules, then!" look, i absolutely recognise that i got that wrong and i misjudged the mood of the house and of the british electorate. i'm afraid myjudgement was made purely and simply because i thought a man whose wife had committed suicide had been punished harshly enough, and that was it. and i'm sorry that i made a mistake and that i made things worse for owen, rather than better. but it is hard to think of a worse punishment for anybody. and that made me think the suspension was disproportionate and that influenced all my decision—making on that. it wasn't political calculation, it was human sympathy. and do you look back at the period you've had as leader and say mistakes were made? i mean, you were punished with ridicule, partly, but you might think worse than that, abuse, for being seen to loll on the green benches of the house of commons. do you regret that? well, that — unfortunately, that was very traditional. if you look at all that t

of the owen paterson situation, which again... - paterson situation, which again..., so the idea he is promoted — did so much damage, so the idea he is promoted to — did so much damage, so the idea he is promoted to a _ did so much damage, so the idea he is promoted to a position... - did so much damage, so the idea he is promoted to a position... what i i is promoted to a position... what i don't _ is promoted to a position... what i don't understand _ is promoted to a position... what i don't understand more _ is promoted to a position... what i don't understand more than- is promoted to a position... what i i don't understand more than anything is why— don't understand more than anything is why if— don't understand more than anything is why if you — don't understand more than anything is why if you are _ don't understand more than anything is why if you are prime _ don't understand more than anything is why if you are prime minister- don't understand more than anything is why if you are prime minister you i is why if you are prime minister you would _ is why if yo

further back, i think, to the time when the government was trying to whip its own mps to support owen patersonut and put through a tender document published on a government website by mistake, apparently. the document says that cyber security company bae systems was called in the urgent support. the value of the contract was £467,000. and the note says that the contract was awarded without prior publication of a causal competition because of the extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable. the bbc understands hackers, the identity of which is not yet clear, systems and were detected. classified and highly sensitive material is kept on a separate system which is not understood to have been breached stop we are not clear as yet when this incident began. but the contract finished on january the 12th 2022. buxton has said that we don't comment on security but we have systems in place to detect and defend against potential cyber incidents. —— a spokesman has said. major espionage campaigns by russia and china in the past and the foreign office says a number of states are targeted and brea