good morning. it is a fairly cloudy start to the day for many parts of the uk. it is mild as well, drizzly conditions and patchy fog. in scotland, something brighter but it is cooler. i will have more details on 15 minutes. —— in 15 minutes. good morning. first our main story: damian green, one of theresa may's closest allies, has been sacked from the cabinet after an inquiry found he had breached the ministerial code. he was asked to quit after he was found to have made inaccurate and misleading statements. it was in relation to what he knew about claims that pornography was found on his office computer in 2008. 0ur political correspondent alex forsyth reports. side—by—side yesterday, the prime minister and her close ally damian green, her deputy in all but name. but, hours after they sat together in the commons, he was sacked. it stems back to this police raid on mr green's parliamentary offices nine years ago. 0fficers said legal pornography was found on computers. mr green has always and still denies it was his, but he also said he hadn't been told about it, and that wasn't right. he has now admitted police lawyers talked to his lawyers in 2008, and police raised it with him in 2013, and he said... it is that breach of the ministerial code that cost him his job. there were also claims from this tory activist about inappropriate behaviour by mr green. her account was said to be plausible, but there was no clear conclusion about what had happened. mr green apologised for making her feel uncomfortable, but denied wrongdoing. in a letter to mr green, theresa may said she was extremely sad at having to write regarding his resignation. she has lost a long—term friend and confidant from her cabinet table. but some said her decision showed strength. i don't think it's damaging to the prime minister at all, really, because she's made the decision. it says something, that even if somebody is a close ally, she's prepared to make a decision and urge him to take the decision himself, to step down. and, in doing that, i have to say that that shows that she's not prepared to cover for somebody if she feels that they didn't answer the questions they should have done. nonetheless, the prime minister will no doubt feel the loss of such a trusted ally from her top team. 0ur political correspondent ben wright is in westminster for us. now, this was a close ally of theresa may, and we also saw many senior conservatives rally around damian green in the run—up to this. yes, including cabinet ministers like david davis, who are quite clear that he did not think damian green should go. but i think the damage to the government is limited, andi damage to the government is limited, and i think the damage to theresa may is limited as well. and i think you can separate the political and personal here. personally this is a big blow to theresa may. damian green was one of her oldest friends in politics. they go back to their time as students together in oxford, they followed each other‘s career is over the decades. she brought him back as deputy prime minister last year and he was quietly one of the most important cabinet ministers she had, sitting on all the key committees at the heart of decision—making. he did not have a high public profile but behind the scenes very important. so a confidant, an ally, she will be very sorry to have lost him. she said in a letter she deeply regretted him going. politically, though, ithink this will all be blowing over very quickly. i think he broke the rules, thatis quickly. i think he broke the rules, that is clear. the report is quite clear about that. theresa may has proven her resilience over the last few months. this is the third cabinet minister she has lost in a couple of months. she botched the election, of course, she had a terrible conference, and yet she powers on. the way she has dealt with this will probably add to the sense that she is a resilient prime minister who is not going anywhere at all. so i think the political damage is limited. on cue very much, we will speak to you later. —— thank you very much. tens of thousands of mothers and babies in england have been harmed when receiving maternity care over the last two years. more than 250,000 incidents were reported by hospital staff to the health regulator, nhs improvement. most were minor, but almost a quarter of the incidents led to the mother or baby being harmed. 0ur health correspondent adina campbell reports. wendy and ryan from east sussex lost their baby daughter three years ago. she was stillborn. an nhs investigation found some maternity guidelines were not followed. leaving the hospital with a box of things, instead of your baby, was just... having to leave her there — going home and leaving your baby there — you just can't comprehend it. it was here at this hospital where wendy was cared for. despite telling staff that she had concerns about her baby's movements, she was sent home on two different occasions. figures seen by the bbc show there were more than 275,000 maternity care incidents reported voluntarily by concerned staff in england over the last two years. the problems included women being told to stay at home, babies being left brain—damaged, and potentially avoidable deaths. just over three quarters of the incidents reported did not cause any harm to mother or baby, but more than 60,000 did. something the government says it is hoping to reduce under new plans announced last month. we want to be the safest and best maternity system in the world. the vast majority of births are completely safe. but what's going wrong at the moment is that, when we have a tragedy, we're not learning from it nearly as effectively as we should. east sussex healthcare trust says they have apologised to wendy and ryan, and admitted some aspects of their service did not meet their usual standards. 0pinion polls in catalonia suggests pro and anti— independence parties are running neck and neck. south korea says its soldiers have fired around 20 warning shots at north korean troops who had approached the border between the two countries. the defence ministry in seoul said the north koreans appeared to be searching for one of their soldiers, who had earlier taken advantage of thick fog to cross the border and defect to the south. a poll carried out for the bbc suggests that almost one in ten young people across the uk have spent at least a month sofa—surfing because they have nowhere else to go. the most common reasons included family issues and domestic violence. the government says it is providing over £1 billion of funding before 2020 to reduce all forms of homelessness. there is a widening regional divide in access to high—performing secondary schools in england. the think tank the education policy institute says families living in london have a growing chance of living near a good secondary school, while people in parts of the north and north—east are increasingly unlikely to have such good schools available. the government says it is investing £280,000 in disadvantaged areas. richard lister reports. it is no secret that way you live can have a big impact on your life chances. but this new report says regional differences in education are getting bigger. the new study looks at secondary schools ranked in the top third for how much progress their pupils make before they leave. it found that, of the top 20 such schools, 16 are in london, while high performing schools in the north and the midlands are getting fewer, with children in blackpool and hartlepool having the worst access to high performing schools. 0ne hartlepool having the worst access to high performing schools. one of the biggest issues is retaining high—quality teachers in schools with problems. it is easierfor better schools to recruit better teachers. london has been particularly successful in doing that, and that has contributed to its success over the last few years, whereas parts of the north have been less successful at in doing that. the education secretary, here visiting her old school in rotherham, has already announced more focused investment in areas with particular problems. but the education policy institute says some of the places with the fewest high performing schools aren't getting the help they need. it says the government must find new ways to bring good schools to all communities. a baby has been born from an embryo which was frozen nearly 25 years ago. baby emma was conceived in october 1992, just a year and half after her mum's own birth. health officials believe it is the longest gap between conception and birth since ivf began. andrew plant explains. preparing for christmas in eastern tennessee, but this year, tina and ben gibson have already got the gift they wanted. seriously, in the middle of the night, we'll wake up and just look at her, and we're like "can you believe it? like, she's really ours." emma gibson, born from an embryo frozen 25 years ago. i never thought that i'd be able, you know, to have a pregnancy and have a baby. it's like, oh, my gosh. such a miracle, you know — such a sweet, sweet miracle. mum tina, is only 26 years old, which means she and her son were conceived within a few months of each other. she and ben cannot give birth naturally, so the national embryo donation centre provided them with an embryo which had been frozen in storage for a quarter of a century. if this embryo was born when it was supposed to be, like, we could have been best friends. we could have been friends. he just thought that was so funny, so that's been the going joke. it's so crazy. the embryo was donated 25 years ago, by an anonymous family, and kept in carefully controlled conditions. emma won't be genetically related to her parents, but has become their first child and, it is thought, a record—breaking baby, too. she was chosen for us. they‘ re called snow—babies, because of how long they're kept frozen. finally, though, she is nice and warm, and delivered in time for her very first christmas. andrew plant, bbc news. the council car park in leicester, where the body of richard iii was unearthed five years ago, has been protected as a nationally important archaeological site. historians hope "scheduled monument" status will help preserve any buried artefacts, as permission will now be needed before any work can be done or changes made. you never know what might be found next. you never know. some great u psets next. you never know. some great upsets yesterday. is this the caribou cup? we still call it the league cup, because that is what it is known as. the fa cup is known for its upsets but it does happen in other competitions as well, as bristol city proved last night. we we re bristol city proved last night. we were saying yesterday that the manager had bought this expensive bottle of wine to share with jose mourinho after the game. i think he expected to be conceding defeat but he probably cracked it open with his players after the game. it was such a shock, and in injury time when could not have been more dramatic. -- injury could not have been more dramatic. —— injury time winner. manchester united were knocked out by championship side bristol city. korey smith scored the injury—time winner that made it 2—1 and sent city through to the semi—finals, where they will face manchester city. chelsea will play arsenal, after beating bournemouth. paul clement has been sacked as manager of swansea city. he becomes the sixth premier league manager to be dismissed this season. the club is currently bottom of the table, having won just three times this season. birmingham will be confirmed as the host city of the 2022 commonwealth games today. their bid is finally set to be approved, giving the go—ahead for the £750 million event. and leicester centre manu tuilagi is free to play against saracens on christmas eve, after his citing for a dangerous tackle against munster at the weekend was dismissed. and that is all the sport. i will be talking about some of the headlines in the papers in a minute, because the headline writers have had an absolute field day with bristol city's win over manchester. you had a good one as well. charlie had a good one as well, he was going korey glory, gorey, story... iwasjust saying anything that rhymes with korey. carol-y. a bit of a tenuous link. what i am best that. it is lovely to have you in the studio. mild in england, wales, and northern ireland. that is courtesy of this weather front. that is ireland. that is courtesy of this weatherfront. that is pushing north—east. it is producing drizzly conditions. murky behind it in south—west england. low cloud and patchy fog. look at the temperatures. ten and ii. patchy fog. look at the temperatures. ten and 11. that is what we normally expect in the afternoon. the weather front is draped across east anglia, the midlands, with drizzly outbreaks of rain. it will be 0'brien start under clear skies when the sun comes up. ——a bright. northern ireland, cloud building. the far north seeing something more bright. the other side of the front in wales, cloudy and murky. low cloud and patchy fog. through the day, you can see the weather front. moving slowly. eventually going through part of north—west england, northern ireland, the isle of man, south—west scotland. ahead of that, much of scotland, especially the east, and the pennines, sunny spells. temperatures, a little bit lower. sunshine compensating. through the evening and overnight period, again, we have the weather front. still producing outbreaks of rain. through the course of the night, another one coming from the west. in between, cloud. a fairly mild night. not as mild as the one just gone. ahead of that, under clear skies, it mild as the one just gone. ahead of that, under clearskies, it will feel nippy. two degrees in aberdeen. friday, we have a weather front coming from the in west stretching across the channel islands in the south—west england. we also have a ridge of high pressure. things are more settled. still cloud the further east you are. the shelter of the hills in scotland, the pennines, for example, a little bit of sunshine. temperatures, six in aberdeen and i2 sunshine. temperatures, six in aberdeen and 12 in the south—west. saturday, a lot of dry weather. a lot of cloud as well. light breaks. rain coming in as another weather front advances into the north—west. sunday, a breezy day. noticeably so. cloud. rain coming in. sunday, christmas eve. for the run—up to christmas, it generally mild. cloudy with rain in the north. if you want a white christmas, you have to go to scotland. that is how it is looking at the moment. it is always warm and wet on christmas! many people are travelling to see families at that time. at least apart from the hills of scotland, they can get around. time. at least apart from the hills of scotland, they can get aroundm was christmas ten years ago when london was snowed in. there was a time! flights cancelled out of heathrow. i remember read. nine or ten yea rs heathrow. i remember read. nine or ten years ago. did it affect you? i a lwa ys ten years ago. did it affect you? i always am affected by it. you're watching breakfast from bbc news. the main stories this morning: theresa may has sacked her deputy, damien green, for making misleading statements about pornography found on a computer in his office. tens of thousands of mothers and babies have been harmed by lapses in maternity care over the past two years, according to figures seen by the bbc. a look at the papers. 0ne story is dominating the news we talked about a second ago. the front page of the daily telegraph. damien green sacked. a close friend, colleagues, for many years. just going through some of the details. the first secretary admits lying about porn. the cabinet hit by the third departure in months. many people are talking about theresa may and losing friends. he said he was forced out. the prime minister is serious at the commons raid and police links that led to his downfall. the daily mail says it is a sad time for him to make politics. that story on the front page of the times newspaper as well. damien green forced out over a computer porn cover—up. many double pages. a lot of attention to it. of course, the story has been rumbling for a long time pending the results of this investigation. they are printing full statements from both the prime minister and damien green. you have some fun use. well, great pictures. —— news. manchester city being beaten by bristol city last night. korey smith scored the injury time when completely mobbed by his teammates and fans who jumped out of the crowd as well to help celebrate with him. a lot of good headline writing. korey, kore, hallelujah. bristol city and manchester city, comparing how much the teams cost. that has to sting forjose mourinho. 11 of them, 11 of us. that is how it is on the pitch. anything can happen. 90 minutes and a few extra for injury time. he was playing next? manchester city! they have already done away with manchester united. the next is manchester city. a massive run of games for bristol city. quite worrying news for tennis fans actually, in many papers today. the daily telegraph. they are worried about andy murray's comeback. he missed out because of a hip injury last season. he is back in training. he is hoping to play in brisbane in ten days' time. many people saying there is a question mark over how his recovery is going because he was supposed to spend christmas in australia with his family to prepare and acclimatise and go to miami as well. he does training in miami. but he is training in miami. but he is training at wimbledon at the all england club. he follows the calendar. it just rolls england club. he follows the calendar. itjust rolls around. tennis is the beginning of the year. how are you start injanuary is telling. and how you train over christmas. they do know get much christmas. they do know get much christmas. —— not get. andy murray has not travelled and is still time at the club preparing. on the theme of people still being able to do what they used to do, if you can see the link, 88—year—old betty, the old est the link, 88—year—old betty, the oldest paper girl in britain. hanging up her bag at 88. she has a p pa re ntly hanging up her bag at 88. she has apparently clocked 100,000 miles delivering the paper. a wonderful achievement. she has an mbe, actually. she took over the paper out from her teenage daughter back in 1976. -- out from her teenage daughter back in 1976. —— route. she had a double hip replacement, the only time she missed out briefly. impressive. a super ager. do you remember when we we re super ager. do you remember when we were talking about people who dress and buy presents for their dogs? we have had a few pictures. i don't know if this was made for the dogs, but that is it right there! hark the herald mongrels sing! they did not look especially happy. bless them. why they looking for new homes this christmas? i don't think so. perhaps you have read into the story. we will check. thank you. we will see you later. shall we stick with festive themes? ‘tis the season to be jolly, but not everyone is full of festive cheer. we sent out our giant bbc breakfast bauble to find out people's views on the best and worst bits of christmas. how we seen that yet? has it been seen how we seen that yet? has it been seen by anyone yet? the giant bbc brea kfast seen by anyone yet? the giant bbc breakfast decoration? can you see it? it has been out and about. we have been asking about the best and worst of christmas. my my favourite thing about christmas is probably all the decorations, light, trees, the cosy feeling you get. i love my four children's faces on christmas morning. the mixture of everything going on. even if you don't want to get involved, you have to get involved. that's christmas. my favourite thing about christmas is the german markets that we have got around here now. people you have not spoken to in ages suddenly get backin not spoken to in ages suddenly get back in contact. we love it. the most irritating thing about christmas is how cold it is. i don't like the calls at all. when people wish for a white christmas, i get angry. i don't like having to wait so angry. i don't like having to wait so long for christmas. why does it have to be turkey? 0ne fish, lamb? everything is half price. you have to think about friends and family who are homeless, people who are disadvantaged. we wish you a merry christmas! we wish you a merry christmas! we wish you a merry christmas! we wish you a merry christmas! and a happy new year. . —— new year. if you want to see how big it is, there it is! it is huge. it is making the tree feel rather in adequate. just checking the construction quality. it is firm. there are bits falling off of it. careful. i can tell you that a little later on in the programme we are going to talk about the toy market, and the issue with toys r us. ben is out and about and carol is finally back in the studio. i will give that to you. it is time to get the news, travel, and weather, wherever you are waking this morning. good morning from bbc london news. broomfield hospital in chelmsford is to pay a private nursing home to look after patients who are medically fit for discharge and causing a blockage in beds. the guide total care home is next to the hospital and will provide registered nursing staff to look after up to 30 patients a day. broomfield hospital currently has around 60 patients in beds who would benefit from being looked after away from the hospital. a new daily service from london stansted to dubai is to be launched by emirates. it will be the first middle eastern airline to operate out of the essex terminal when services begin flying in june. stansted's management is delighted, and says it will help boost the local economy. there is about 7.5 million people within our catchment, many of them work for larger businesses. about at least 25 of the world's largest businesses are in our catchment, many of whom have international operations. the fact they will not have to go past our airport to get to another one will be great, but hopefully it stimulates business for them and others. workers from three train operators are to stage another series of 24—hour strikes in the new year. it's over the ongoing dispute about the role of guards and driver—only operated trains. rmt members on south—western and greater anglia trains will walk out on the eighth, 10th, and 12th of january. workers on southern will take industrial action on the 8th of january. greater anglia plans to run a full service, while govia thameslink says it has invited the rmt to talks. let's have a look at the travel situation now. 0n the tubes, there are minor delays on the overground between dalston junction and clapham junction because of a faulty train. 0n the roads the north circular has a contraflow is in place near to north ealing tube station because of emergency water works. expect delays. at swiss cottage, there's no access from the a111 to college crescent because the traffic lights are faulty. let's have a check on the weather now. good morning. it is certainly a grey and misty start in london this morning. patchy light rain as well, especially in the north. a lot of us will be dry. watch out for rain. a mild start with temperatures for some of us in double figures. the mist, slowly lifting up into low cloud as the day goes on. a few brea ks cloud as the day goes on. a few breaks in the cloud later. predominately a dry day. 12 degrees. 54 predominately a dry day. 12 degrees. 5a fahrenheit. very much on the mild side of this weather front waxing and waning across the uk in coming days. tonight pushes it towards us, do we will always stay on the mild southern side of it to be patchy rain coming in. largely starting to clear up first thing friday morning. another very mild start. 0nce clear up first thing friday morning. another very mild start. once again, quite a grey field. eight grey look to things first thing. as the day goes on, breaks in the cloud. a high of 11, perhaps 12 degrees celsius. in coming days, if you are looking for a white christmas, it is more of a grey christmas. temperatures certainly feeling very mild for the time of year. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now, though, it's back to breakfast. hello, this is breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. it is 6:30am. we will bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment. but also on breakfast this morning: how watching this saved a man's life. also this morning: christmas might be a time to eat, drink and be merry, but there is a warning