tobias ellwood mp, chairof the get your thoughts.select committee. the duke of cambridge has tentatively welcomed a new investigation into how the bbc secured an interview with his mother princess diana in 1995. in a statement released last night, he said, "the independent investigation is a step in the right direction. it should help establish the truth behind the actions that led to the panorama interview and subsequent decisions taken by those in the bbc at the time." the bbc has promised to get to the truth about the events surrounding the panorama interview. lord dyson, one of the country's most senior retired judges, has been appointed to lead the inquiry. let's speak to our royal correspondent, jonny dymond. good morning, jonny. how unusual is it to get this sort of statement from the duke of cambridge?m it to get this sort of statement from the duke of cambridge? in a word, very, very unusual. i can't think of another time that a senior member of the royal family has offered commentary or criticism, or whatever you want to ca

tobias ellwood, thank you very much forjoining us here on bbc news.geon has been speaking to the bbc‘s andreew marr programme today about her response to the pandemic. official figures show there were 50.5 deaths in scotland compared to 40.6 deaths in england on average... ji said it was too soon to be conspiring statistics. —— nicola sturgeon said. the number of deaths in scotland is far too high. you won't hear me say any different. i don't think there is an acceptable level of deaths. what i would say is firstly, and, you know, i don't think it should be seen as a competition, but you've asked me the question in a comparative sense. we have a lower death rate, if i could use that term, than england and wales. there are particular issues in scotland, which will not be unique to scotland, different demographics, intergenerational issues of long—term health conditions, but perhaps the most fundamental point, which applies to all countries is this one. we are still in the teeth of this pandemic. so i think it's premature for any country to be declaring

tobias ellwood, we must leave it there. i can see you want to assess there. the data on what you will be told today before coming to a decision but good to talk to you, thank you. we will be speaking to professor paul elliott, the director of the react programme, within the next half an hour. the mass testing of students for covid—19, so they can go home safely for the christmas break, is starting at many universities across the uk today. if they test negative, many students will leave university in the "travel window" starting on thursday. 0ur education correspondent dan johnson reports. two of these tests, three days apart, then 2k hours to make it home for christmas. that's the safest route on offer ahead of the holidays. and here in east london, these students are helping manage the tests as well as taking them. i think this is the safest way of doing it. i think by allowing all students and staff to be tested, we can ensure that we keep the r rate down and people can go home feeling confident. you've got to balance the risk, and this just minimizes it a

brexiteers, who like to rebel against the government, those types of people, but also people like tobias ellwoodt abstain, so you have got a really big coalition of all different types of tories all bearing down on the government from different angles and it doesn't look good for a government that only one its majority less than a year ago. good for a government that only one its majority less than a year agolj suppose critics could say it hasn't looked good for quite a long time, ona looked good for quite a long time, on a myriad of issues. what is going wrong? mean, number ten on a myriad of issues. what is going wrong? mean, numberten has on a myriad of issues. what is going wrong? mean, number ten has lost cummings, what has gone wrong? we have got three or four cabinet ministers all saying three or four different things in the space of the last 2a hours. different things in the space of the last 24 hours. absolutely, and i think what people have felt for quite a long time and is really exaggerated now is it feels like there is a bit of a vacuum of leadership at the top. we talk about all of

earlier i spoke to tobias ellwood, conservative mp for bournemouth east, which is going into tier 2.cabinet we are meant to believe on the new tier system. we have remained locked into a peacetime cabinet construct and we have not moved to a war footing. we've got people with no experience in emergency planning or operational decision—making running this enduring emergency and i would have liked to have seen earlier a division between the strategic decision mistaking and the operational delivery. —— strategic decision—making. we still have mps, friends of mine, running around, chasing ppe, all those sorts of things, things they've never had any experience in doing, and consequently you are right to ask who is in charge. can ijust clarify this — 2a hours ago michael gove wrote a 2000 word essay in the times explaining why certain tiers couldn't be moved down because of the wider good, geographically and for the country, in avoiding a third surge. 2a hours later the prime minister writes an article in the mail the mail on sunday where suddenly that's all scrapped! let's look to move fo

tobias ellwood, the mp for bournemouth east, talking to us about that.. we are taking a look at what is happening in bristol and in kent where there are varying degrees of rates of infection etc and concerns about how long areas will stay in their specific tier 2. we will have all of that. headlines shortly. good morning, welcome to breakfast with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. our headlines today... a call for a rethink — as most people in england are told they‘ll enter the two toughest tiers after lockdown. the prime ministerfaces an angry reaction from some of his backbench mp5. there‘s concern also from businesses — i‘m in tunbridge wells where many are asking why a town with low infections rates has been placed in the highest tier. amid chaotic scenes of passion and disorder — football legend maradona is laid to rest in buenos aires there‘s no better time to talk about families — the duchess of of cambridge‘s message as she launches some major new research on parenting. and i am at andiam ata and i am at a christmas tree farm in oxfordshire. are

i'm joined now from westminster by conservative member of parliament tobias ellwood, the defence committee me feel very uneasy and you rolled off the list of people who are concerned about this former prime ministers and so forth. i'm pleased with investment in hard part. it does mean we can defeat the enemy where we have to. but in places and regions where there is conflict and instability, we need to be unable to the local. the indigenous populations, it's so important indeed. we are very, very good at this ability to co—opt rather than cores. to lead through persuasion and to positively influence others. where arguably the best in the world. for us to retreat in this way will leave consequences. i worry that from the perspective of the uk, the inference that we have in the world is actually not fully understood. and the consequences of this —— influence. increased poverty and instability. i'm afraid we also allowed china and russia to take advantage to the vacuum of support we provide across the world. they we re we provide across the world. they were moving very quickly indeed. note da

i'm joined now by the conservative mp tobias ellwood. he worked on rudy giuliani's campaign to unseat hillary clinton as the new york senator. good to have you with us today. i was struck by a tweet that you wrote yesterday, let me just read it for reviewers. you said, with authorities on the rise around the world, how america handles and respects the democratic process over the next 40 towers will impact on all the next 40 towers will impact on a ll western the next 40 towers will impact on all western nations‘ credibility to uphold and protect standards during a term of global uncertainty. how concerned are you regarding president trump's claims of voter fraud and people being disenfranchised, without providing any evidence? it is such an important point. we need to recognise the entire point is watching this, including countries such as russia and china. 0ther authoritarian states that actually wa nt authoritarian states that actually want this democratic process to fail. they want to show there is chaos, division, disharmony, there i