it s a very balanced debate. i m biased, but the arguments are good, and they may- change my mind. she is much better than last time, but she s still too weak in comparison with macron. he is far stronger on every subject. marine le pen sjob tonight was to show that she was prepared for power. mr macron s task was to show that she was not, without looking too arrogant and superior himself. around 10 points separate them in the polls tonight. four days separates one of them from power. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. in the uk, borisjohnson s government is calling for a vote on a parliamentary investigation into whether the prime minister misled parliament over lockdown parties to be delayed until the police inquiry has concluded. mps were set to vote later on thursday on an opposition plan for a house of commons committee to investigate the prime minister s past comments about downing street gatherings.
waiting on the report to hear more about. we have had cabinet ministers today defending the prime minister, otherjunior ministers have had to respond to some of their own angry constituents, for example, health minister maria coffield writing on her website that the culture in number ten was one for even if the rules were not broken the spirit of them was. the science minister george freeman writing to a constituent saying he was shocked and flabbergasted by some of the reports of the downing street gatherings. note that ministers at the moment are reserving judgment about the prime minister and his role himself at the moment but i think this is where the report by the top civil servant sue gray will be really key in terms of further reaction going forward. if that report seems to suggest in any form that the prime minister was warned about this party, certainly there is always amongst ministers how they will respond next. ione, thank you.
two more stories about downing street gatherings. these once in april 2021 and a time where indoor mixing was banned between households and you could be in a group of six or two households could meet. these are being reported in the daily telegraph and the problem for downing street with its particular story as you mentioned was it was on the 16th of april 2021 and i was the evil of prince phillips funeral and people may remember the queen sitting alone for that funeral morning alone. but in downing street, where led to believe that 30 people were saying goodbye to the director of communications under two prime ministers and also want to borisjohnson s personal photographers. and it was the details of this that make it seem almost farcical. there was music, there was alcohol and at one point, they took a suitcase to the local supermarket to pick up some extra wine. someone broke the swing