Borisjohnson, largely absent up behind him, with the manager, iea boris johnson, largely absent from the table. Clearly not very happy and there is no love lost between the former leader, former Prime Minister and the outgoing First Minister. There was also another tricky exchange when Mark Drakeford discussed simon hart, the Welsh Secretary for the uk government throughout the pandemic. He was giving evidence on friday when she said she felt as though the Welsh Government was making decisions during the pandemicjust for the during the pandemic just for the sake during the pandemicjust for the sake of it, to be different to the uk government. Mark drakeford completely refuted that and noted simon hart did not give any evidence to back up that theory. Also Mark Drakeford said that simon hart got to the stage where he did not have much to do with the start of the pandemic, otherthan much to do with the start of the pandemic, other than essentially borrowing bothering Mark Drakeford about
Good morning. It is going to be fairly cloudy and wet today across the central swathes of the uk. To the central swathes of the uk. To the south of that mostly dry and mild. In the north, blustery showers with gales in north west scotland. Details later. Good morning. Its wednesday, 13th march. Rishi sunak is facing calls to hand back millions of pounds donated to the Conservative Party by a businessman accused of making racist comments about the mp, diane abbott. Tech boss frank hester is reported to have said ms abbott made him want to hate all black women, and that she should be shot. The Prime Minister called the comments racist and wrong. Our Political Correspondent Hannah Miller has more. Hello, rishi. How are you . Very nice to see you. When rishi sunak made this visit to a mill near leeds in november, his Helicopter Ride had been provided by one of his partys biggest donors, frank hester, Who Last Year donated £10 million to the Conservative Party, now alleged to have made com
As is their motive. Mr volkov has lived outside russia for some years for his own safety and served as mr navalny s chief of staff until the Opposition Leader died suddenly in prison in the Russian Arctic last month. Speaking earlier on the day he was attacked, mr volkov highlighted the threats navalny s team were facing by standing up to vladimir putin. Thats why putin launches all these criminal cases and poisons and killings etc, indeed to push people out of the country where it is very complicated for them to stay relevant. Matthew sussex is Senior Fellow of Central European studies at the Australian National university, he gave his take on the situation. Regardless of who was directly responsible for beating up Leonid Volkov, the message that it sends will be a fairly common one for those who follow russian politics. And that is, if you are an opponent of the putin regime, as Leonid Volkov through his relationship with mr navalny most certainly was, it is possible for you to end u
And coming up on bbc news. New zealand look to erase Rugby World Cup scars of 2019 as they look to reach a record fifth final when they face argentina later. Good afternoon. The labour leader sir kier starmer says his partys two by election victories last night are history in the making. Labour overturned huge conservative majorities in the previously safe tory seats of Mid Bedfordshire and tamworth in staffordshire. In Mid Bedfordshire, the former seat of nadine dorries, the tory majority of more than 2a,000 collapsed with a swing to labour of 20. 5 . While in tamworth the swing was even bigger 23. 9 . The conservatives have blamed low turnout, saying their voters stayed at home. Our Political Correspondent iain watson reports. Two previously tory seats, two big wins for labour. Keir starmer has been to visit both with big swings for his party from the conservatives in tamworth, but his first stop this morning was to celebrate his close victory in Mid Bedfordshire. We know that voters
This is still very much an ongoing operation. These teams have so far rescued around about 50 residents this morning. No one knows for sure how long this water will remain here, but it is thought it might stay flooded for the next couple of days. And listen to this. Just a0 miles up north in Aberdeen Winds of up to 70mph. Along the coast, these homes were submerged and damaged. Yesterday, the body of a 57 year old woman was rescued from a river in angus. Within the last hour, police have confirmed the death of a 56 year old driver after a falling tree hit the van near forfar. Some parts of scotland have now been issued a new red danger to life Weather Warning for tomorrow. But for today it has been downgraded to amber as it travels south. Parts of Northern England at the midlands are now bracing themselves for what is to come. Fiona lamdin, bbc news. Our reporter louise cowie is also in brechin and gave us this update. The rain has literallyjust stopped before we came on air, but its b