At 10 o� clock, well be here with a full round up of the days news. First, newscast. I Canno T Believe that a Press Conference about covid ended up as a sort of Rap Battle between chris whitty, that is still the rules for us, that is still part of our winter plan. I dont know, actually, that could take us quite a long way to the rest of the year, and of course and the thing about winter in the nhs, do you remember Whenjeremy Hunt told us on newscast at the mentor in the nhs lasts until april the next year. Its only september, weve been talking about it all day. Something big happened stop at the base chapel, and its pretty much nearly done as we were recording this on thursday evening, but lets recap the big winners, because whats been happening today on thursday as the lower runs of the latter, the top runs were done on wednesday that big winners are liz truss, foreign secretary and then nadeem, probably rewarded for it the vaccine route. A big challenge about how to get everyone caught up from all the learning that they missed during the pandemic, which of course very own evenly spread across the country. And then i think probably the biggest, is this the biggest Surprise Place like i think it is probably the biggest surprise along with Robert Buckland. fine probably the biggest surprise along with Robert Buckland. With Robert Buckland. One of the Cabinet Ministers with Robert Buckland. One of the Cabinet Ministers to with Robert Buckland. One of the Cabinet Ministers to lose with Robert Buckland. One of the Cabinet Ministers to lose the with Robert Buckland. One of the Cabinet Ministers to lose the job, he was the Justice Cabinet ministers to lose the job, he was thejustice secretary, as Is Robert Chanting who was the Housing Secretary. He was thejustice secretary and he was off, as is robertjenrick, who was the Housing Secretary in charge of all sorts of tricky things like planning and cladding, that crisis after grenfell. It was a bad day to be called robert. And Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, and that was no surprise, its fair to say, after the palaver over all sorts of things. He was off and out. But there were some movers as well, big names here. Dominic raab, former foreign secretary, is now the justice secretary. Some people are saying that suits him because he has a bit of a legal background, although im never sure exactly what his legal background was. And ill be intrigued to see if he does anything with the Add On Title he got, the Bonus Title of deputy Prime Minister. After a Black Belt move, he got that bauble, which i understand borisjohnson did not necessarily intend to give him at the beginning of their meeting, but he was cross about moving and cross about, he perceives, being blamed for some of the debacle in terms of the afghan withdrawal. Interesting that Michael Gove, a hugely prominent figure in politics for a long time now, has become Housing Secretary but also, he has responsibility for the Union And Something were going to talk about in this programme, the mysterious Levelling Up. And finally. Another surprise here. Oliver dowden, the well respected Culture Secretary who people thought, maybe hell go to education, maybe some of his team thought he could go to the Cabinet Office because he is quite organised. He is going to go and organise. The conservative central office or cchq, whatever its called. Conservative party co chair, getting them ready for the election. Further down the ranks, though, were still getting new names coming in tonight, lots of people, lots of churn and a couple of quite surprising moves. One nick gibb, who was Schools Minister for a long time, widely respected in the sector, and another one, john whittingdale. John, hello, thanks for coming on the newscast. Thank you. So what actually happened this morning . And before we get into the story, can ijust say youre a good sport to talk to newscasters on the Day Yourjob has gone, so thank you for sharing. What really happened . Well, like a lot of my colleagues, i had a call last night from the Prime Minister, who said to me that he was grateful for all id done, but it was the usual thing about needing to make room for young and up and coming tory mps. Im young and probably no longer up and coming, so to that extent, i could understand. I did feel i was doing a reasonably good job. There was an awful lot going on which i was dealing with, so im sad to stop doing it. But i wish my successor every success with it and i will continue to help them in any way i can. Yeah, because you were stewarding some big things through your department and some things that i understand are government priorities like the potential privatisation of Channel 4. Do you think your departure is damaging to those projects . Well, i had three responsibilities, each of which was looking at considerable legislative change. Theres not just Channel 4, but the whole future of public Service Broadcasting and how we bring it up to date. Theres also the data reforms, which were now able to make as a result of brexit, where we can set our own data laws. And thirdly, i was overseeing the Gambling Review where there is No Doubt that we need to do more to protect people who are vulnerable. So there are a lot of things and the trouble with reshuffles is that you bring in ministers who normally do not have the depth of knowledge. I was very unusual when i first went to Secretary Of State because id spent ten years chairing the select committee, so i did know the subject. But that is quite uncommon. So you then have to spend time with the ministers getting up to speed before they can start taking decisions. That is one of the things about the Department Youve just left. The Secretary Of State has gone, Oliver Dowden has gone to be chairman of the Tory Party. Caroline dinenage, who was one of your colleagues at the department of culture, has gone, and youve gone and youve worked in the sector for a long time. Do you think the Government Willjust Crack on with what youve just described as big changes in this part of the political landscape . They must, because all three of the areas that i described are very important. We need to update legislation. Data represents a huge opportunity post brexit. Public Service Broadcasting needs to be brought into the modern age to deal with the rise of the streaming services and the shift in the way people consume tv. In gambling, there is No Doubt that the Gambling Commission needs a review and that we need to look at putting in place greater protection. All these are areas where whoever is in charge, were going to need to make those changes. Nevertheless, you were very identified with this idea of selling Channel 4 so that its no longer a public service broadcaster. Do you think the fact that you are no longer there and youre so associated with that policy suggests maybe the government is a bit more lukewarm about going ahead with that than they were two days ago . The first thing to say is that Channel 4 will remain a public service broadcaster, whatever happens to the ownership of it. We are committed to that. But i would say that the Governments Decision to consult on the ownership of Channel 4 was a decision taken by the Secretary Of State, Oliver Dowden, but as a result of Cabinet Discussion and ultimately with the support of the Prime Minister. That has not changed. The arguments as to why it is necessary to look at the future of Channel 4 have not changed either. So i dont think you should read into it any shift in the policy. Personalities dont necessarily determine policies, and this is something the government agreed needed to be considered. What about the bbc . As you said, its a huge area for the government, the big landscape of public Service Broadcasting, and its been suggested in the last couple of weeks that the Governments View is that the Licence Fee should not rise at the same level as inflation. Is that your view . Im not going to comment on what decision is ultimately announced about the level of the Licence Fee. But you can now, youre a free man well, i was involved in those discussions and there hasnt been a final decision. Its something that a new Secretary Of State may want to look at. But is it your view that thats the right decision . Im not going to tell you what my view of the decision is before the decision is announced. Ah, not the decision, but is it your view, though, that the Licence Fee shouldnt go up with inflation . Look, i am a huge supporter of the bbc. The bbc needs to be secure with a financial backing but on the other hand, we have to recognise that these are hard times. Households are under considerable pressure and it is a balance that needs to be drawn. This is a five year settlement. But im not going to tell you what the government is likely to announce, even though im no longer a minister. It was something i was closely involved in and i will wait for the government to reach and announce its final decision. Some ministerial habits die very hard. Lets talk about nadine dorries. It was a surprise to lots of people in westminster, even incredibly experienced people, that she got elevated to being Culture Secretary. If you had a phd in the work of that department, what qualifications has she got . Well, rather curiously, idelivered Oliver Dowdens speech last night to the royal Television Society because i was still in post at that time even though he had gone off to be transferred to the chairmanship of the Conservative Party. Reshuffles are just really weird. But it was pointed out that Nadines Appointment had just been announced and one of the things she is best known for it having been a contestant on im a celebrity, get me out of here so she has some experience of television. I know nadine and i like her. Im sure shell do a good job. But shes come from having been wrestling with covid in the Department Of Health for some time. Shell have to get up to speed with some very different issues, and ones which are quite complicated and challenging. I wish her every success. Im happy to do what i can to help. The one thing which the Secretary Of State, whoever holds that post, cannot do is interfere in the editorial direction. The Secretary Of State and the government appoints the chair and the board. The Director General is appointed by the board. We set the Licence Fee, something which is about to happen, but we dont tell the bbc what they can and cannot broadcast. That is something ive always believed in and i am sure that will continue to be positioned. As someone who knows nadine dorries, do you think temperamentally, she may be tempted to go into that zone . There is nothing wrong with a secretary of State Or Anybody expressing views about the content of particular programming. She will have the opportunity to talk on a regular basis to both the Director General and the chair of the bbc and im sure she will express her view. But we have an independent bbc in editorial terms and that is something i believe we need to protect. Overall, you have been part of not just this government, but others. If you look at the shape of the team that borisjohnson has lined up, does it make sense to you . Is there a kind of coherence to it that you can identify for newscasters, or is it sort of borisjohnson the pragmatist thinking, i want to make a few changes and move a few people around but maybe there isnt any big ideology behind it . Well, of the big changes that were made, some had been speculated about for some time and therefore cannot have come as a complete surprise. Others, i think, came out of the blue. I understand that every Prime Minister has to make room to allow people to be brought forward. That is never an easy thing. I also recognise that the Prime Minister is keen to have a front facing cabinet that reflects modern britain, so you need to have representation from across the whole of the uk. You need to have moves towards greater Gender Balance and more diversity. Those things are necessary but equally, its no bad thing to have a bit of experience around that table and people who have a good grasp of the detail of the jobs theyre being asked to do. Absolutely not a reference to nadine dorries, im sure. No, it wasnt. I know as an experienced politician, you sound pretty sanguine about the whole thing. But are you a Bit Cross . It sounds as if youve just explained very clearly that you lost your job because borisjohnson wanted a team that looked different, not necessarily people who would be better able to do the job. Look, there were only two members of the entire government who had been elected before 2000. They were myself and nick gibb. Both of us are no longer in those jobs. So to that extent, i mean, clearly it was to do with refreshing and bringing forward up and coming members, and i understand that. I was enjoying the job. Ive spent a lot of time in dcms in various different positions. I chaired the select committee for ten years, i was secretary of State And Shadow secretary before that. Its a job i love and im obviously sad to give it up. But that doesnt mean i cant continue to contribute even though im not sitting in the ministers chair. So im disappointed, but thats politics. All of us who go into politics know that its a very uncertain and occasionally quite brutal business. Interesting, though, that it seems to be the Onlyjob In Britain where your boss can discriminate based on age. That would be illegal anywhere else. Well, i wasnt told that that was the reason, but, you know, i accept that, you know, i have been around quite a long time in parliament compared to. Particularly, you know, we have got a huge new intake of people who have just arrived, all of whom are very able and ambitious and the Prime Minister is obviously going to want to demonstrate that talent will be rewarded and, you know, you cant go on promoting people unless some people are asked to stand aside but that does not make it any easier, particularly if, you know, those people, and im not necessarily talking about myself, im talking about one or two of my other colleagues who have stepped down in the last 24 hours who, you know, were doing a very good job and did nothing which merited their removal. Just a last question, john, what are you going to do with yourself . Fancy doing a swapsies with nadine dorries, you going into thejungle next time . I dont think ill be in the jungle. This is the answer all mps give but it is true, i love representing my constituents and it is a big job well, we are very happy that you gave us time today on the day that you. It was announced that you are leaving your post. Thank you very much indeed, john whittingdale, for being a good sport and talking about your departure on the day it happened. Thank you. Now, laura, shall we give newscasters the authentic Westminster Experience of a reshuffle, which is talking about it even more . Yes i think so because weve been talking about it all week and last week when, do you remember, newscasters might remember, we said, well, it hasnt happened this week, bet it might be on for next week, and there we were. Now, Chris Mason Isnt here in his socially Distanced Booth of news but the former Education Secretary and founder of the social mobility pledge, justin greening, is in there now. Hello, justine. Hi, how are you, adam . Very well, thank you. So were you. . Well, youve been out of the Front Line of politics and contributing in another way but does that mean you were still totally glued to the Reshuffle Gossip on Social Media or do you live life like a normal person now . Its a bit of both. I do still get this Pavlovian Pit in my Stomach Feeling whenever theres a reshuffle on, so. What, in case they call you back in . No, just. It is totally pavlovian, just the weirdest experience you can go through. Normaljobs, you get to apply. If you want to leave, you probably resign and then do three months and move on. Cabinet reshuffles are the opposite. You getjobs you never applied for. And when you are not ready to leave, you absolutely often end up, as Robert Buckland did, yesterday, unfortunately, finding yourself leaving. So they are totally bizarre and unsettling experiences. In a sense, it is like the political equivalent of a cold shower. It is a necessary evil at times but i dont think anyone really enjoys them. So your big thing now is social mobility, so this idea that your background does not stop you or affect where you actually end up when you are in the world of work. So lets look at what that means in terms of the new Look Cabinet and our colleaguejoseph, who is a number cruncher extraordinaire, has done some amazing stats for us. So the new cabinet is 20. Or people attending cabinet is 27 female which is up so that is a good thing, isnt it . I think it is interesting because you almost need to look at who is coming into the pipeline and then how they get on it, if you see what i mean, in terms of talent. So when you look at the percentage of women in borisjohnsons cabinet, broadly they reflect the fact that a quarter of conservative mps are female. So you can see, if the Conservative Party wants more female Cabinet Ministers, it probably needs to widen the pipeline in the first place because it looks like, when women are in parliament, they are making their way through to the top table. And then we have got whole other metrics we can do, here, for example, people who went to Oxford Or Cambridge for university, that has fallen slightly but it is still about 45 around that very squished table. Sojustine, what do you make of it when you hear that . Well, i think you can almost contrast the situation on women in cabinet to the situation on state educated people in cabinet and there, i think borisjohnsons latest cabinet has around, i think, 61, 62 of its people round the table educated privately, compared to 7 in the population, and compared to a Tory Party in parliament of 41 of conservative mps are privately educated. So there, there is a double challenge, isnt there, for borisjohnson . A Prime Minister who says Talent Spread evenly but opportunity is not. Who do you think has got the toughest gig in that new cabinet . You were Education Secretary but you were also at the Department For Transport and also the department for international development. You have done lots of differentjobs but if you think about education, you know, Gavin Williamson has had, shall we say, a choppy time in there. Who do you think has got the toughest gig . It is a great question. I think probably Michael Gove, actually. I think his inbox does not have a lot of things that are not exceptionally hard, whether it is planning, whether it is some of the leasehold reform stuff, whether it is the really challenging question, particularly for lots of people living in cities, of cladding. There is a range of challenges for Michael Gove and i think the other challenge he has got is he is in charge of Levelling Up. And i think it is a lot harder to do a Levelling Up strategy when different places and communities have different Levelling Up challenges and the issue is to let A Thousand flowers bloom, i think, and that means having a national architecture of Levelling Up goals but then allowing local communities to really work out for themselves how they put those plans in place. The role of government on Levelling Up is actually to be an enabler rather than a director on Levelling Up and i think that is Michael Goves challenge. Now you know the Department For Education and the School System like the back of your hand, having been the Education Secretary. Is there a way that when the pandemic struck, Gavin Williamson could have handled that crisis in a better way and done something differently . I think what he really needed to do was to break down the challenges that schools and children and parents were going to face into much more actionable chunks. And i think what you ended up with was dictats and guidelines coming out of the dfe to schools that were really in different situations in different parts of the country and again, needed something that was much more tailored. I think the Laptop Programme really should and could have been nailed much earlier to make sure that being on the wrong side of the digital divide was not going to stop young people and children from studying. I think we could have mobilised a lot more Community Spaces for children to be able to have the quiet spaces they need to keep studying, socially distanced, if that is what it took. I think theres a whole range of areas, actually, where we could have had a real call to action. We did that on the nhs and we really saw lots of volunteers and people and businesses step forward to try and play their role during the pandemic. I would have loved to have seen what that looked like to help our children and our teachers and schools get through the pandemic more easily as well. It will be very interesting to see what Nadhim Zahawi and all the other people with newjobs in the reshuffle do with their new briefs but right at the beginning of this, you said a reshuffle was a bit like a cold Shower And Somebody who was in government around the same time as you told me that in one of the reshuffles where you were being given a cold shower, you were being moved from transport to the department for international development, and i am told on fairly good authority that you were not very happy about it and you locked yourself in andy coulson� s office, refusing to move. Is that scurrilous and untrue . What really happened . I certainly dont remember that but i remember that i was livid at being moved afterjust 11 or 12 months at transport when i was just getting going and i felt i had a lot more to do in that department. I guess it comes down to Levelling Up. I suppose i felt it was unfair and this Prime Minister who had so much opportunity in his life was suddenly taking this Plum Cabinet Role that i had really thrown myself into away from me. Of course, what i didnt realise at the time was that going and doing international development was going to be, for me on a very personal level, a completely transformative experience. I absolutely loved that role. But yes, that reshuffle, i learned a lot from it because i didnt handle it well, i felt, afterwards. I think it is a big transition when literally one morning you are in one role, and then suddenly, by the afternoon, you are in the next. And i think its quite hard sometimes to sort of unplug yourself from one portfolio and suddenly go into another one. And i am generally a pretty steady person, so i probably lose my temper about once every five years. Unfortunately for David Cameron, that was the time i did lose my temper. And did you stage a Sit In . Maybe it wasnt andy coulson� s office. Ijust remember being. Cross. Very Cross And Feeling like David Cameron had put me in transport when he had one Heathrow Policy and then he changes his mind on heathrow, which i thought was the wrong thing anyway, that he expected me to do a flip flop. And i was like, thats not how i work. I think through my policies, i work out what i think the right answer is and i dontjust go like that because Someone Else who clearly hasnt done that then changes their mind. So there you go. She didnt confirm the Sit In, but we are glad you sat in Chris Masons cupboard this week. Thank you, justine. Great to have you on, as ever. Lets go back to where we began. You have had an a Lister Showbiz Engagement this week with nicki minaj. With the reshuffle. And nicki minaj. And the reshuffle. I have had my own Showbiz Moment because this morning on bbc breakfast, i was on after Pam Ayres, the poet, and this is the massively cringey thing that happened afterwards and i wish i hadnt done this. I have just scribbled a few lines of poetry. Shall i give it a go, in tribute to Pam Ayres, to talk about the reshuffle in verse . 0k. The government says its appointing more women. Liz truss, the foreign office, she is now in. Hold on, adam. Whats the opinion . Give up the dayjob, i would say adam, you looked quite red faced but you obviously really hated it, given that you have played it to everyone again. Not my choice. But what is good is that when i do publish a poetry anthology, ill have Pam Ayres Quote On The Back saying, dont give up the dayjob. I have got one. Reshuffles are mad, they make some people feel sad, but they are part of the gig and sometimes they are big. Brilliant i mean, dont give up the dayjob. I got to four lines, though. You had two. It was a live breaking news scenario. Theres only so much you can do. Ifeel like i should now have a newscast goodbye poem, but i am all poetried out for this week. Tune in again next week or to the podcast tomorrow. Verse with adam will be available. Theres been a reshuffle, what a load of kerfuffle. Bye newscast. Newscast, from the bbc. Hello. Well, it was a decent end to the working week across eastern areas of the uk. Across East Anglia and South East England, quite warmer temperatures, well up into the 20s with broken cloud. Some spots got up to about 22 Degrees Celsius earlier. However, for Northern Ireland and scotland, its been a different picture. Here, weve seen a lot of cloud, outbreaks of rain working across Argyll And Bute from this slow moving Weather Front. Indeed, its going to be dragging its heels as it slowly pushes eastwards across the uk during this weekend, with these Weather Fronts bringing some wet weather our way. Now, looking at the charts, overnight tonight, weve got that rain still affecting scotland, but tending to push into eastern areas for a time. Wales and western england also seeing some damp drizzly weather, with some Mist And Fog patches developing around the coasts and hills. Otherwise, its a dry night with some clear spells. Temperatures, for most, between 10 14 Degrees Celsius. Now, looking at the weekend as a whole, saturday is probably the better of the two days of the weekend. Not entirely dry, there will be a few showers around, but not a bad start nevertheless. Its on sunday that were going to see some thicker cloud, more widespread and heavy rain, could even see some big thunderstorms around as well. Now, saturday, we start off with that weak Weather Front bringing a bit of drizzly weather to parts of scotland, wales, western england, with some Mist And Fog patches over high ground. Eastern wales, central and eastern england, a lot of dry weather with sunshine, and a slice of brighter weather, too, for West Scotland and for Northern Ireland, at least for a time. In the best of the sunshine, temperatures reach 23 celsius, but later in the day, well probably start to see a few storms break out across the Western Areas of england, maybe wales as well. And then overnight, it turns increasingly wet with some heavy, thundery downpours driving their way northwards. And then into the second half of the weekend, as i say, probably the wetter of the two days of the weekend for many of us, with Cloud And Rain turning heavy and thundery in places, could even bring some localised surface water flooding. But then at the same time, through the afternoon across Western Areas, the weather will try to cheer up, brighten up, fewer showers, a bit more in the way of sunshine. Temperatures about 17 20 degrees. Now, we may still have a bit of rain left over from that system in East Anglia and South East England on monday, but otherwise, pressure will be building just ahead of the next system that will be bringing some rain mid week. So, monday and tuesday actually decent weather, sunny spells, temperatures high teens to the low 20s, but some wet and windy weather on the way towards the middle of next week. Simplifying travel to and from england. Only those returning from Red List countries now need an expensive pcr test, or quarantine. While the Amber List of countries has been scrapped. But there are consent the changes mean fewer opportunities to screen for possible covid variants. Also tonight, after australia, the us and britain agree a new security partnership, france recalled its ambassador to washington and canberra. The pentagon admits one of its Drone Strikes killed ten civilians in kabul, including several children. The transgender Teenager Given Drugs to pause puberty. Nowjudges say doctors were right, to offer the treatment. And it is a goal