In halfan in half an hour, join me Sarah Campbell as i take a look back to the photocall held here at kensington palace, which introduced prince harrys bride to be Meghan Markle to the worlds media. That is in the royal review 2017. Good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. The foreign secretary borisjohnson has acknowledged there are serious difficulties in the relationship between russia and the uk hes on the first visit to moscow by a British Foreign secretary for more than five years. In a tense press conference, the Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov rejected suggestions that russia had behaved aggressively towards the uk, but agreed that relations are at a very low level. Our moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford reports. The first handshake looked warm enough, but borisjohnson came here promising to talk tough, to warn russia to stop what he called its destabilising actions. It was russias foreign minister who set the tone. Sergei lavrov said relations with britain were at a very low level, and chided the foreign secretary for such public criticism. Things arent easy, borisjohnson agreed, before baffling the russians with talk of crisps. There are increasing exports of british kettle crisps to russia. But both men agreed one thing, that after five years without a visit by a uk foreign minister, it was time to talk face to face again. Relations broke down over the conflict in ukraine, still unresolved, still deadly, after almost four years. Theresa may recently accused russia of fermenting the crisis here. Today, borisjohnson again called the annexation of crimea from ukraine illegal. Then theres syria, and russias Controversial Military support for president assad. This month, Vladimir Putin declared Mission Accomplished in syria, but the threat of terrorism there, the need to build the peace now, is one that concerns britain and russia equally. So, it was that sense of common interest that the foreign secretary underlined, after talks that lasted well over the hour. There is no point in simply sitting on the sidelines and complaining about each other. We have to engage, we have to talk to each other. There were some light moments. Sergei lavrov said he trusted borisjohnson so much, hed used his russian name, boris. Boris but there were frosty touches, as well. Translation i cannot recall any action by russia that was aggressive in relation to the uk, but we have heard accusations, even insultingly, that we support a criminal regime in syria, that we are aggressors, that we are occupiers, we annex other territories. Those are all claims russia denies, even now. Relations with moscow have been bad, verging on hostile. Borisjohnson came here to address the reasons for that directly. There were no breakthroughs. None were expected, but the first steps towards thawing the chill have now been taken. Sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. With me in the studio is peter conradi, Foreign Editor of the sunday times and author of several books on russia. A first visit by a british run secretary to russia by five years, how significant is it . secretary to russia by five years, how significant is it . I think the fa ct how significant is it . I think the fact that as it has taken place after such a long period is significant. In terms of it achieving anything, no. It wouldnt be realistic to expect it to have done so. Weve had been rehearsing about problems with russia which started eccentrically with the annexation of crimea and has worked through other issues, intervention in syria and cyber hacking and so on which started essentially. Weve had the russians on the other side saying, not us. Same old story, really. But it was important it actually took place between. Is this actually took place between. Is this a question of breaking the ice after such a long deep freeze between the two countries . Yes, and theres a lot of ice in moscow in december this is probably chipping away at the top of the ice but we arent going to make our way through to clear water beneath. There are clearly a lot of disagreements about a lot of things but other also some things the countries can agree on . Iranfor example, things the countries can agree on . Iran for example, some areas of International Politics . Koran is slightly more complicated because the russians are very closely allied with the iranians tehran is slightly more, located. Otherthings such as fighting isis, plus weve got the world cup coming up next year. Theres got to be a lot of low level Security Cooperation on that as well. The allegations russia is involved in cyber attacks, spreading fake news, interfering in elections in the west, how important is that as an obstacle to improving relations . I think to some extent its been a bit overblown. Its very clear the russians have been trying to shake things up. By the same token the russians would say look at western countries, look at the extent to which we have been encouraging pro democracy movements. I dont think that is the main stumbling block. Essentially things like crimea remain a boulder in the rate between better relations. Going back to the collapse of communism, when everyone in the west had such high hopes of what russia might become, what has gone wrong in relations between the west and the former soviet union and russia in particular . How long have you got . It isa particular . How long have you got . It is a tale of 25 years of lost opportunities on both sides. Hopes of improving relations. Just a fundamentalfailure of improving relations. Just a fundamental failure by the west to try and think how it was going to integrate russia into the post communist world. Integrate russia into the postcommunist world. Thank you. That the former first secretary of state damian green made inappropriate advances towards the conservative activist kate maltby when she promoted him to serve as her deputy. Yesterday ms maltby told the bbc that she had raised concerns about him with a downing street official last year. Speaking this morning on a visit to cyprus, the Prime Minister said she only knew about the allegations when they were published in a newspaper last month. I first learnt of these allegations when kate maltby wrote about them in the times. I recognise that kate maltby was obviously extremely distressed by what had happened. Damian green has recognised that, he said that in the letter he wrote to me, and he has apologised. And i think thats absolutely the right thing to do. Our Political Correspondent alex forsythjoins me. Weve just heard what the Prime Minister had to say. Where does this story go from here . I think you get the sense of the Prime Minister and no doubt damian green are keen to draw a line under this. Its worth remembering why damian green was sacked. It wasnt to do with those allegations by kate maltby of inappropriate behaviour, it was because he said he didnt know about another matter which was pornography found on parliamentary computers in his office. He actually did know. Hes always maintained it wasnt his and denied he downloaded or viewed it, but it was that which led to his resignation. Nonetheless the other element to this is the wider issue of claims of Sexual Harassment in westminster. Kate maltby who made those claims against damian green said the reason she chose to speak about this is because she is effectively saying she doesnt think enough is being done to make sure this is properly dealt with. Damian green has apologised to kate maltby for making her feel uncomfortable although he does dispute her version of events. You get the sense that the debate has come back to what really was the origins of this which is whether or not people are taking allegations of Sexual Harassment seriously enough. The parties have all toughened their stance in the wa ke all toughened their stance in the wake of several people being named for having carried out inappropriate behaviour. I think that element of the debate will go on for some time. Thank you. A 44 year old man is being questioned on suspicion of murder, after a woman was stabbed to death while at work in a supermarket in skipton in North Yorkshire. The victim who has been named locally as 30 year old Jodie Willsher was attacked in the aldi store in front of shoppers yesterday afternoon. Lets get the latest on this from oui lets get the latest on this from our correspondent who is in skipton. What are we hearing from the police on this . Theyll still continuing to question a 44 year old man who was arrested yesterday on suspicion of murder. We havent had any updates since then. It was around 3 30pm yesterday when a man burst into this supermarket and attacked and killed a supermarket worker. Shes been named locally as Jodie Willsher. A supermarket worker. Shes been named locally asJodie Willsher. She was 30, from skipton in North Yorkshire and she was a mother. Customers and staff in the store pinned down the attacker and held him down until police arrived. All morning people have been coming here to the scene and laying flowers, tributes and soft toys, and paying tributes and soft toys, and paying tribute tojodie. They described her asa tribute tojodie. They described her as a lovely, bubbly, friendly, popular and kind woman. As a lovely, bubbly, friendly, popularand kind woman. No as a lovely, bubbly, friendly, popular and kind woman. No one had a bad word to say about her. They said no one could ever have a bad word to say about her. She was the mother of a young girland say about her. She was the mother of a young girl and was married and from the area. Very popular, lots of friends have been here, heartbroken at the scene. Its so tragic that this is to happen at any time but people have been saying how even worse it is that its coming few days before christmas. Here at the scene, the supermarket remains closed. There is a large cord and in place covering the car park. There are police guarding the scene and not a lot of activity to be seen in the supermarket itself. The windows are brightly lit but when you look through them what you can see is trolley is laden with food that had been abandoned in the aisles and food waiting to be scanned at the checkouts. Thank you. For nearly 30 years, britons have been carrying these, burgundy, passports, the common colour of the eu. But its been confirmed this will change when britain leaves the home office has announced that the covers will revert to blue from 2019. The new design wont carry the eu insignia and for some brexit campaigners the colour blue has become a symbol of independence. Our Home Affairs Correspondent tom symonds reports. The Great British passport, shortly not to be available in european burgundy, because, it turns out, brexit means blue. And the e word nowhere to be seen. Some never liked, well, the pink one, as this bbc news report in 1995 made perfectly clear. And for some people, pocket sized burgundy simply isnt british. The passport is something so many people still have fond memories of, the british passport, that blue companion on your travels with the family for many years. Im pleased to let people know we are going back to that classic blue and gold design. Well, not quite. The last british passport was much bigger, hardback, and a very dark blue. The european one which replaced it way back now in 1988 was floppy, smaller and easier to put in a pocket. The new one, and this isjust a mock up, is of roughly the same design, but it will keep all of the security features that are currently built into passports to make them hard to copy, and it will add some. My first ever passport. Wow, thats interesting. It seems going blue is largely about showing we are going it alone. Reaction . Blue, isnt it, back to england. I think its a shame. We had a fantastic ability to travel around the rest of the world, and were looked upon favourably with our immigration policy, and now its a bit embarrassing, to be honest. I think the decision was a huge aspect of the country moving forward, and i think in order to move forward there needs to be changes, and if that is distinguished by a single colour, then why not . Whats the difference . Its a different colour. I preferred it when we were in europe, everything. Just everything, yeah. I dont think it was needed, but we wanted to give a message that we are different, and to that extent it serves a purpose. He says things are looking up. Its the first bit of good news brexiteers have had for a long time. The last few months have been very frustrating. The new passports will be issued from late 2019, when old ones are renewed, or people simply apply for one. The new colour may split the country as much as brexit itself. Perhaps this, the winner of an unofficial passport Design Competition might have been an even better choice. Tom symonds, bbc news, at the passport 0ffice. The headlines on bbc news. Borisjohnson Boris Johnson says borisjohnson says he hopes relations between britain and russia will improve. Hes been meeting the Russian Foreign minister in moscow. Theresa may denies she knew about allegations of inappropriate behaviour against damian green before promoting him. She said she first learned about the allegations ina first learned about the allegations in a newspaper. Spains Prime Minister says he is willing to talk to whoever takes control of the cata la n to whoever takes control of the catalan regional government, as long as they stay within the law. Lets get more on the situation in catalonia. The Spanish Government has been meeting to discuss the results of Regional Elections in catalonia which saw separatist parties win a slim majority in the new assembly. The result is a setback for the government in madrid which called the election after an independence referendum held earlier this year was ruled unlawful. Joining us now is the bbcs tim willcox, who is in barcelona. This decision to have an election there, has it backfired on the spanish Prime Minister . |j there, has it backfired on the spanish Prime Minister . I think it has, ben. Yes, although madrid is trying to spin it in a different way, as you would imagine, and the spin they are putting on things is that the popular vote shows there are more people in this region who wa nt to are more people in this region who want to remain part of spain than to leave spain. The harsh political arithmetic of the situation is that none of the unionist parties can form in of a block here to win a majority in the catalan parliament. They need 68 seats out of 135 to form that majority, and nearly parties who can would appear to be the separatists. This successor nests secessionists. Its not a good day for Mariano Rajoy, even though hes cleaning the victors in this election, the centre right pro Unionist Party which has emerged with the most number of seats, but asi with the most number of seats, but as i say they cant form a coalition. Mariano rajoy has been speaking saying hes open to dialogue within the constitution, within the law. Which will obviate any discussions about independence as far as the Spanish Government is concerned. Carles puigdemont, the former catalan president in self imposed exile in brussels has been speaking as well and hes been calling for dialogue and saying that spain cant have it any other which way now. Basically that referendum he called on october the 1st when 90 of people voted in favour of separatism on a turnout of under 50 , now that spain has called these elections with a turnout of 82 , this is the will of the catalan people according to carles puigdemont. Translation politics cannot be done without dialogue. Whether he likes the theme we have to discuss, this is what he has to do. We need to find solutions. For whom . For the citizens. Mr puigdemont also said he would be prepared to return to spain if he was given certain guarantees. Namely that he would be exempt from any prosecution. I do think he can really cou nt prosecution. I do think he can really count on that at the moment, bearing in mind his former deputy, the head of the Republican Party in catalonia, is in prison in madrid at the moment facing possible charges of sedition and rebellion which carries a jail sentence of 30 years. Where are we . Have we seen any Movement Towards healing some of the divisions between the separatist group and the unity group in catalonia, or are we back at square one . Lets speak to our guest from the new york times. Ive spoken to you so many times in the past few months and i always feel im back in groundhog day. Nothing really seems to have changed. Its definitely groundhog day. We unfortunately have a situation where the divisions are deeperand a a situation where the divisions are deeper and a solution seems to be further away. The only thing we know todayis further away. The only thing we know today is that Catalan Society is deeply divided, split down the middle. As you said, a narrow majority is probably against independence but in terms of the arithmetics of forming a government, that favours the separatists. What can madrid do now . Its going to have to negotiate, isnt it, with the separatist movement but within the separatist movement but within the confines of the constitution . 0therwise the confines of the constitution . Otherwise there wont be any movement. You would think so. The big question is in whose interests it is to negotiate. Mariano rajoy has basically managed to, until last nights defeat, managed to strengthen his position at National Level. He is a little bit like a politici