It is the people, not an unelected Prime Minister, who should determine our countrys future. An election is the democratic way forward. Its shaping up to be another dramatic week in westminster, send in your questions on brexit and well try and answer them atjust after 2. 30. The most powerful storm to hit the bahamas since records began Hurricane Dorian smashes in with winds of up to 180 miles an hour, causing huge damage and severe flooding. Coming up on afternoon live all the sport changes within the england camp, ahead of the crucial 4th ashes test against australia. And, the former premier league star hitting out against racism in football. The weather making news, susan, and that hurricane is not moving. Thats just about the worst thing a major hurricane can do. We will look at why thats happening and how it can have knock on effects of how we forecast where it goes next. I will see you in half an hour. Thanks, susan. Also coming up as commercial whaling gets undeway once again injapan younger generations say they want to watch whales not eat them. Hello, everyone this is afternoon live im simon mccoy. Theres mounting speculation that Boris Johnson could be about to announce plans for a snap election, with confirmation in the last hour that ministers have been called to a Cabinet Meeting later this afternoon. The bbc understands live discussions are going on in number 10 about asking parliament to approve an election possibly as soon as this wednesday. The Prime Minister is under pressure, after rebel conservative mps braced for a showdown with the government over brexit. The formerjustice secretary david gauke today accused Boris Johnson of taking the tories in the direction of the brexit party, after government plans emerged to expel any conservative mps who vote this week to block a no deal brexit. For labour, Jeremy Corbyn called for action to stop no deal, and for a general election. With the latest from westminster, heres our Political Correspondent ben wright. Good morning, how lovely to see you on this sunny morning. Behind the bonhomie, cabinet ministers are threatening a purge of tory mps who join opposition efforts to block a no deal brexit in the commons tomorrow. So, will that stop the tory rebels . What rebels . Are there rebels . There certainly are, including conservative mps who sat in cabinet until borisjohnson took over. It seems to me like they are almost goading people into voting against the government, because i think their strategy, to be honest, is to lose this week and then seek a general election, having removed those of us who are not against brexit, not against leaving the European Union, but believe we should do so with a deal. There are just days before parliament is suspended for mps to try to pass a law that will aim to stop borisjohnson taking the uk out of the eu without a deal. Number 10 has warned conservative mps they will be kicked out of the party if they join that effort. But rebel resolve seems strong. Borisjohnson will find if he purges moderate, sensible conservatives, conservatives like me who are willing to leave with a deal, who voted for it three times, unlike him, he will pay a penalty, i think, at the ballot box. Westminster is reassembling for a seismic week, a showdown between the government and parliament that could determine how or even if brexit happens at the end of next month. And this morning, cabinet ministers said it was right to demand loyalty from conservative mps. What the Prime Minister quite understandably wants to do is to ensure he delivers on his promise to britain to leave the European Union on the 31st of october with a deal. And what we want to see is all conservative mps rallying behind him this week, making sure he has the best opportunity to deliver on that commitment. But complaints of hypocrisy add to the tension here. Earlier this year, several tory mps now in the cabinet defied the party whip and voted against Theresa Mays Brexit deal. The numbers could be very tight in tomorrows vote, and if the Prime Minister carries out his threat to withdraw the whip from rebel tory mps, this week he would immediately wipe out his minuscule commons majority of one. And that makes an autumn general election even more likely. Sources have told the bbc there is a live discussion under way in government about possibly asking mps to approve an election as early as this week, if the law is changed to force a brexit delay. But that would need labour to vote in favour of having an election, and at the momentJeremy Corbyns focus seems to be on blocking a no deal brexit. We must come together to stop no deal. This week could be our last chance. We are working with other parties to do everything necessary to pull our country back from the brink. Then we need a general election. On today, the former labour Prime Minister tony blair warned Jeremy Corbyn not to fall into the elephant trap of agreeing to an election before brexit was resolved. There was another new arrival in downing street this morning, Boris Johnson has a loyal new friend. But his willingness to take britain out of the eu without a deal is fracturing the tory party and pitting the government against mps. Lets discuss this further with vicki young whos at westminster this afternoon. New need to brace yourself but what for . Anything could happen, simon. Whats happening here is the rebel mps on the conservative side feel they do have the numbers, the first step to change the law to force a borisjohnson or try step to change the law to force a Boris Johnson or try to force step to change the law to force a borisjohnson or try to force him, to ask for a delay to brexit if he does not have a deal in place. It looks like theyve got the numbers. I spoke to one earlier and they said ifi i spoke to one earlier and they said if i thought he was serious about getting a deal and seriously negotiating, i would getting a deal and seriously negotiating, iwould not getting a deal and seriously negotiating, i would not do this but he said he was not convinced that was the case. Maybe at the beginning but not anymore. It looks maybe early as tomorrow the law could be changed. They used a similar strategy with theresa may who then went to the eu and got the extension to article 50 and eli brexit but borisjohnson is pretty much saying i will not do that. He feels he cannot do that, given everything you said about delivering brexit on october the 31st. He is threatening tory mps to say we will treat this asa tory mps to say we will treat this as a confidence vote tomorrow or the next day and if you cannot back the government then you will have the whip taken away and you are no longer a member of the Parliamentary Party and you cannot stand in any general election. Thats quite a threat and this is what the chairman of the party had to say about it. What the Prime Minister has made clear in the whips have made clear, and this is the standard relationship mps have with their party of government, we expect them to support the conservative Prime Ministerand to support the conservative Prime Minister and the conservative agenda. And politicians should not seek to take the authority of government away from government and hand it to the leader of the opposition. The other thing that has emerged this morning as a government sources saying there is live discussions going on about the possibility of trying to call a general election if mps succeed in changing the law. Of course, the law changed a few years ago so not as course, the law changed a few years ago so not as easy course, the law changed a few years ago so not as easy as it used to be where Prime Ministers could call an election, it cannot happen that easily anymore. Are ways it could be done but it sounds as if thats been discussed and cabinet ministers will be meeting later on this afternoon and we will have to see what emerges after that. There are lots of things on twitter and reaction to this, one of which is the thought that call a snap election may wait for october the 17th, the date been mentioned, the day the eu meeting is held, he could change that dates and this would be a trap that ensures there is a no deal brexit. Thats because of the way that Boris Johnson has to go about getting an election. He cannot just johnson has to go about getting an election. He cannotjust call one, he has to have two thirds of mps backing it. That means he needs labour mps. Jeremy corbyn, who spent the last year or longer saying we need an election, will he vote for that or will he see it as a trap and not vote for it . Very hard for a labour not to back a general election given everything theyve said over the past few years. They wa nt to said over the past few years. They want to be in government, in any normal circumstances they would be expected to back that. There is another way Boris Johnson expected to back that. There is another way borisjohnson could go about this. You could even bring in about this. You could even bring in a new bill that says, forget the fixed Term Parliament act, the election will be on this date. That would have to get through the house of lords, easier than the house of commons, so its not that easy for him to get a general election and i think he is putting labour in a difficult position because they are not agreed on this. Many labour mps say the priority is about stopping no deal and not an election. So it will not be easy but you can see from the strategy that downing street have adopted ever since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, they are constantly trying to wrong foot the opposition and the opposition a meaning also some of their own mps and trying to keep them guessing by producing new elements, suddenly talking about a general election, talking about a general election, talking about a general election, talking about the selection of mps, all to keep them on their toes and keep them guessing. How it ends up, we may no more by the end of today, or tomorrow or the end of the week. How is this all being seen in brussels . Our correspondent, adam fleming, is there. Arent they watching whats going on here with irritation, confusion, what . They try not to do emotions, these eu types, and they tried to stick to the facts which i think is why they are waiting for a settled position to emerge about what they will be dealing with. They thought they would be dealing with was a Boris Johnsons negotiator, a senior civil servant, david frost, coming out on wednesday and possibly friday to talk about what they have been speaking about for a few weeks, alternatives to the backstop. They are still waiting here for the uk to table some concrete proposals about how they feel they could get around this stalemate about the backstop. Thats what theyve been crying out for. I imagine if we are seeing an election being called today or this week, that process will go out the window and people here will switch their attention to dealing with that. In the short term, the first reaction will be does this mean an extension to the article 50 process . Its already been extended twice, the uk could request another extension and it would have to be approved by the 27 eu leaders, probably at a summit. In the longer term they would have their eye on the potential permutations of a new government. I had lunch with somebody last week and thats what we did and it speculated about what flavour of government you could end up flavour of government you could end up with if there was an election and what it would mean for a negotiating process or getting a deal through parliament. From the eu side, they try to keep out of it, the trite not to have a view but their dream scenario would be a party with a big majority that could get a deal similarto majority that could get a deal similar to this one through west minister they try not to have a view. On the basis there would have to be a change to the backstop . If there was a party with that strength they would perhaps renegotiate that small pa rt would perhaps renegotiate that small part of the deal. Asi part of the deal. As i was saying that i realised i was getting so far ahead of ourselves, i was hoping i could rewind back to the real world with my next answer and you give me an opportunity. The eu set out its position yesterday in quite a long article in the sunday telegraph and it was basically a defence of the backstop. He fought back against the idea that the eu backstop agreed with theresa may was somehow anti democratic because it did not give the people of Northern Ireland a say if it ever came into force. Michel barnier said the backstop had been quite a tough ask to get the eu to agree to when he proposed it to them when it emerged from negotiations. He said that was as flexible as the eu was prepared to be. The message from that being they are not prepared to be any more flexible so anything thats a bit more relaxed on the backstop permits more relaxed on the backstop permits more risks to the Single Market or is sketchy, they would accept that and also any alternative to the backstop would have to do precisely what the existing backstop does which is keep open the irish border and also be ready to go the second it was needed, be fully operational. He was really showing what a challenge the current government would have if they wanted to find an alternative to the backstop and also what any future government would be up what any future government would be up against because the cast of characters and the make up of the government in westminster and the might change after a general election, the eus red lines and interests it wants to protect on its side will not change. There was another message in Michel Barniers pc yesterday when he said its time to stop kicking the can down the road. That was aimed at the opponents of no deal brexit who want an extension and he was saying to them and extension for what . His patients for extending and extending, hopefully something will happen, i think his patience for that has run out. Im sorry to get ahead of ourselves but all we seem to do is speculate. Was it a good once you had last week . It was very good. Very sunny, i got a bit sunburnt. Adam, thank you very much. Well be answering your questions about what could happen this week and over tht next few months in a bbc ask this. Annita mcveigh will be joined by alex de ruyter from the centre for brexit studies live from birmingham at 2 30. So please do get in touch with whatever questions you might have. The Contact Details are on your screen now. When i said over the next couple of months, that is nonsense, over the next couple of hours. The most powerful storm to hit the bahamas since records began has caused Severe Damage and flooding. Hurricane dorian is pounding the low lying abaco islands and grand bahama with winds nearing 200 miles an hour. Power and communications have been cut, and forecasters are also warning of a life threatening storm surge of up to seven metres. Dorian is expected to move close to the coast of florida tonight. Richard galpin has the latest. These, the Northern Islands of the bahamas, have been feeling the full force of Hurricane Dorian. We need help. Everythings down, everythings down. Look, my roof is off my house. Ive still got life. The damage to homes in this area, caused by winds of up to 200 mph, has been described as catastrophic. On top of this, a storm surge has left many houses and other buildings here underwater. As many as 13,000 houses could have been destroyed. There might no longer be any clean water readily availabl because of storm surges flooding wells. So we are really anticipating, as the storm passes, that might take time, as you said, that the humanitarian needs will be quite severe. And Hurricane Dorian is currently moving atjust one mile per hour, which means the islands will continue to be battered. This is probably the most sad and worst day of my life, to address the bahamian people. I just want to say that, as a physician, ive been trained to withstand many things. But never anything like this. Hurricane experts whove been flying through the eye of the storm, collecting data, believe it will gradually track close to the coast of east florida. Then, over the next few days, while weakening, it is expected to move along the coast towards south and north carolina. People here in florida are preparing for the worst. In some coastal areas, the authorities have ordered residents to move out, something the white house is also calling for. The effects will be felt hundreds of miles or more from the eye of the storm. And long before it potentially makes landfall. Its going to go for hundreds of miles. We expect that much of the eastern seaboard will be ultimately impacted, and some of it very, very severely. Its not yet clear if Hurricane Dorian will make landfall on the east coast of the united states. But this massive storm is too dangerous to take any chances. Back in the north bahamas, the destruction continues. It will be some time before the scale of this disaster is known. But Hurricane Dorian is the worst the region has ever witnessed. Richard galpin, bbc news. Florida is one of those states on alert. From there, cbs news correspondent hilary lane sent us this update. The biggest thing is that officials are warning people in low lying areas to get out. Nine counties in florida, including us here in daytona beach, and coastal communities in the carolinas and in georgia are under mandatory evacuation orders. That means people should leave because they are in danger if the storm hits the area. People, though, do not alwa