but first of all, the prime minister's adviser allegra stratton has resigned, she was one of those people in the video, and this is what she said about that resignation. my remarks seemed to make light of the rules, rules that people were doing everything to obey. that was never my intention. i will regret those remarks for the rest of my days and i offer my profound apologies to all of you at home for them. there's allegra stratton explaining her resignation. we also want to look at this story and what it tells us about the broader relationship between the government and the press lobby. to help us do that we have katie perrior, director of communications for theresa may when she was prime minister. michael crick, political commentator for mail plus, and kitty donaldson, the uk political editor for bloomberg news. let's start with pippa crerar from the mirror. it was your story which started all of this. when did you first hear that there had been a christmas party in downing street? well, i actually first heard rumours way back injanuary, but they were just that. and i wasn't able to substantiate, i tried my best but didn't manage to get there. and then about a month ago i got handed what i would describe as a metaphorical brown paper envelope which contained enough evidence in it for me to start asking questions again. so i then spent several weeks speaking to sources about whether a party had taken place and then once i'd established that it had, speaking to them about who was at it, what was done at the party, secret santa and the festive games and drinks and nibbles and so on. and then we were just really waiting for a moment that would be the right time to publish. so you come back to this story, you start having lots of conversations building on what you first heard about in january. can you pinpoint when you first thought, "my goodness, this is a huge story?" well, last tuesday i was sitting in the number nine briefing room, the same room in fact that the video that paul and itv showed of allegra stratton was filmed in. and listening to the prime minister's official spokesman at the normal lobby briefing. that morning on the radio doctorjenny harris, the uk health security agency chief, had suggested that people might want to be a bit careful about how they socialise at christmas and cut back on that in the coming weeks because of the obviously the emergence of the omicron variant. and with that in the back of our minds we were all asking questions of the pm spokesman about whether we should be having christmas parties, whether it was wise to follow her advice and what the official guidance was. and he made it quite clear that the official guidance at that time was not to cut back on christmas parties, these things could ahead. it was really quite clear about that. some interpreted that as a bit of a slapdown in fact ofjenny harris. i remember sitting there thinking "my goodness, people are talking about christmas parties again, we have the uncertainties of what happens in the next few weeks with omicron coming up, this is going to be on people's minds again, now is the moment to do this story." so you decided to run the story on tuesday of last week. were you ready to go with it quite a lot earlier? i suppose i could have pulled that together quickly. none of this was actually written as i sat there in the number ten briefing. i had all the information i needed but i needed to sit at my keyboard and bash it all down. i did that very quickly earlier in the day and lawyers wanted to have a look and the people to put the paper together, the online team, they were discussing headlines. it's a bit of an operation. and you say that your editors quite understandably trust you because of your track record. but when you go to them and say i have got this source, how many sources do they want from you? is there a particular number you have to clear? i think again it depends on the story. i have a personal rule that if you are writing a big story like this that you can'tjust do it on the basis of one source unless you have uncontroversial evidence or they are somebody that you trust absolutely implicitly. but i've never done a big story like this based onjust one source, i've always preferred multiple sources. not least because in establishing the facts i think it's quite important to be able to, you might get more information from one person which corroborates something from something else. and you build up a picture. the more the better always. how many were there on this particular story? i have several sources on this one. so that's your experience. we will come back to it. paul, let's bring you in. when did you hear about this video? we heard about this video some time ago. it's actually really interesting listening to pippa explain her story because i had a similar experience, we were aware of this video some time ago. actually, sometimes it takes the work of one journalist to help anotherjournalist. and we had some really important considerations when we were looking at this video. it was filmed ultimately in a private setting. so there's a high bar for publishing that video, it needs a public interest. and on the first look at the video and before the context of the past few weeks, that bar we didn't feel it was met. but when pippa published her story and the denials began coming out of downing street, the public interest transformed. because we were able to demonstrate that perhaps what downing street were telling us wasn't quite in line with the way they were talking behind the scenes around the time the parties' alleged to have taken place. hold on, i want to make sure i've understood this, paul. you heard about the video. does that mean somebody had actually told you, i've got a video or maybe showed you the video and said were not to give you a copy of it yet or you just heard rumours around westminister that a video might exist and someone might have it? we were working on the story for several weeks. so we were aware of the video. and we were working through the legals and we have a fantastic lawyer here who was working with us in great detail on all of that. but like i say, things changed when pippa's story was published. before we talk further, let's hear some of this video. so this is a video from last decemberjust before christmas. this isn't an actual briefing, we should explain, this is a practice. yes, allegra stratton had been planning to host these televised briefings. the first time televised briefings had happened in the uk, a bit like the white house briefings that had already happened in america, so the idea was that she would come and present what is actually a regular lobby briefing that takes place but it would be on camera for the first time. what she was doing was asking colleagues to help her to rehearse so there were other press officers and special advisers in the room that had thrown her the kind of questions journalists would ask her potentially if she was doing it for real on that day. and she was rehearsing her answers. sometimes formally, sometimes less formally which is actually what you see in the clip that you just saw there. we were looking at the video and of course the impact that it's had. we noticed some questions coming up again and again about it. if you don't mind, i'd like to ask you them. did itv pay for the video? no, we did not pay for the video. and why did you choose to blur some faces in it but not everyone�*s? again, that comes back to public interest. obviously the repercussions for those who are identified can be quite severe as we've seen with allegra stratton and the resignation today. we felt we only wanted to identify those people who had said something that was in the public interest. and there were people who were in the room who were participants but perhaps not particularly active participants in the rehearsal that day or they had made interventions that we didn't feel met that test of being in the public interest. and you tweeted it out early evening, i saw it and of course thousands and thousands of us saw it. one thing that was interesting was initially there was a short clip and i went back on twitter and there was a short clip and that i went back on twitter and everyone�*s going, hold on, there's more. tell us about the decision—making about releasing the shorter version before the longer. there is an interesting dilemma for broadcasters and newspapers these days which is how much do you reveal your hand on social media alone? ultimately, as a news organisation, you like people to consume your content through your own platform. itv news has a website and an app and ideally what we would like people to do is go in and read the full story, the full piece ofjournalism that has taken a lot of time and effort. what we decided to do was to release a short clip which gave people a flavour of the story so they could understand what they would be going through to read more about. and then the full video, the full context of the article, was there on the website to be read in full. and the final question we see being asked a lot is whether this was filmed off a screen or whether it's actually the original video? that's something i can't get into with you, ros. as pippa was saying earlier, protection of our sources is of the utmost important to us. and that means notjust protecting the source's identity but protecting how material comes into our hands. well, as of course you know paul, and everyone listening, at prime minister's questions earlier, this was the dominant issue. and borisjohnson turned to the video that paul had obtained. i apologise unreservedly for the offence that it has caused up and down the country and i apologise for the impression that it gives. but i repeat, mr speaker, that i've been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no covid rules were broken and that is what i have been repeatedly assured. and pippa, as you listen to that and you listen to the prime minister saying essentially your description of the event that you reported on is wrong, how does it feel? well, it's no different from what they've been saying every day this week, frankly. i guess it comes down to a couple of things, your interpretation of what a party is. in my mind, a0 to 50 people crowded cheek byjowl into a medium—sized room drinking, eating nibbles, playing party games and secret santa until past midnight, even if it is in a work environment, is a party. secondly, the legalities of it. they are only three areas in which the government could point to to justify its claim that this gathering or any gathering was within the rules. one is whether it was a permitted event but there would have been no mingling allowed between households and clearly there was. the second is described as a reasonable excuse of a gathering at a work environment. i don't think anybody would regard a christmas party as a reasonable work environment. thirdly, this disputed claim as to whether this sort of event was allowed, permitted, because covid regulations don't apply on government departments. that's a very tricky one for the government. if it's true, and i don't know whether it is, you'll have to ask legal minds on that, then it would literally be one set of rules for government and one set of rules for everyone else. which i think would be an incredibly bad look for them. pippa, paul, thank you, stay with us. before we bring in other guests, this is a story that pippa is very closely connected to. lots of people been following the christmas party story making comparisons with the barnard castle story involving dominic cummings. if you want to hear the inside account of that story, well, pippa's editor along with the editor of the guardian spoke to the media show on an earlier addition of the programme a few months back which you can still listen to online. let's bring in kitty donaldson from bloomberg news, michael crick from mail plus, and katie perriorfrom in—house communications and former director of communications when theresa may was prime minister. katie, i wonder how you assess how the government has handled the last nine or ten days? it's an utter disaster- and one following another. i feel that boris johnson i actually made things worse at prime minister's questions today not better. _ i never like to see an adviser go and cry on doorsteps _ because actually, the person that went home early ended up- taking the rap for it. i don't think that's fair either. he says he's sorry for the event, sorry for the video _ and the impression it gives - but there's no sorry for the party. there's no comments on other parties that have been put - in allegations today as well. i think the public are not really falling for it - and nor the journalists either. i think this is going to run and run. - but he has a track record of not saying sorry and he is the prime minister and was mayor of london, something you were involved in. so you'll know that has been a successful political tactic for him. the thing is with boris johnson - is people give borisjohnson leeway in the way they never give i any other politician leeway. they press it in with borisjohnson. he doesn't act like something he's not, is not saying - he's whiter than white, it is what it is with - him and they seem to buy that and they seem to like it. - you'll see the conservatives won again only a week or so ago. - it seems to work for him. the problem is that this - is a moral issue and it's also an issue where people have been stuck at home and lost loved - ones during lockdown. they don't take kindly to that. this might be the moment where his luck runs out. i now someone who has been offering commentary on the last few days has been dominic cummings, former adviser to the prime minister. he tweeted some lobby hacks were also at parties and are trying to bury the story. you covered westminster for many years but are there situation in which lobbyjournalists either don't maximise a story or turn away from it completely? i think inevitably. it's less the case that it used to be. 30 years ago, 30, a0 years ago, lobbyjournalists would turn a blind eye to all sorts of things going on in government in order to preserve their sources. i think that is a lot less the case these days and i think the lobby journalists, political journalist, those based in westminister are a lot tougher on politicians and rightly so. i think it's difficult in this case because if some of the people, some of the lobbyjournalists were at the party, they are potentially sources, people say well shouldn't we as journalists expose what other journalists were at the party? it's very tricky for people doing the story to get the story far and perhaps otherjournalists to then expose them. they can't do that, can they? pippa, you were reporting on this, were there any journalist at the party? at the christmas party on december 2 18th, other journalists there. the allegations which dominic cummings is saying are separate, possibly people who, journalists may have been friends with the prime minister's wife. certainly there were no journalists present. kitty donaldson, let's bring you in, what's your approach, what's bloomberg's approach on when to socialise and interact with politicians and when not to? that's a difficult question. obviously as a reporter i go off and see sources all the time and i have coffee and i have lunches with senior politicians. and sometimes i go to parties that i'm invited to and the prime minister usually has a number ten christmas party for journalists. not sure if that's going ahead this year. i wonder if you'll be invited, pippa? i hope so, if it goes ahead. sorry kitty, i interrupted. the thing i would try and keep in mind is that when i'm reporting on people, they're not my friends. there is a professional detachment there. do you feel that detachment paul as you watch the consequences of your story have a personal impact on allegra stratton and potentially other people too? the story involving allegra stratton was - the story involving allegra stratton was interesting _ - the story involving allegra stratton was interesting for _ - the story involving allegra stratton was interesting for us _ - the story involving allegra stratton was interesting for us at _ - the story involving allegra stratton was interesting for us at itv. _ - the story involving allegra stratton was interesting for us at itv. she - was interesting for us at itv. she was interesting for us at itv. she was a _ was interesting for us at itv. she was a well— was interesting for us at itv. she was a well liked _ was interesting for us at itv. she was a well liked and _ was interesting for us at itv. she was a well liked and kind - was interesting for us at itv. she was a well liked and kind formerl was a well liked and kind former colleague — was a well liked and kind former colleague at _ was a well liked and kind former colleague at itv _ was a well liked and kind former colleague at itv news. - that was an interesting dimension when we are tackling the story- but we decided that we had to treat it as if she was any other _ subject in the report where we had to maintain that professional- separation from the story. and imagine she was any other figure in number ten who perhaps we didn't know anywhere near as well. we are human beings and you have sympathies and you have _ feelings for people. we don't like to see anyone suffering because of a story that we have broken. but ultimately, it's - the public interest that we serve asjournalists. katie, you managed these relationships from the other side, particularly when you were working with theresa may, how did you view them, as friendship, as working relationship, as nothing more than something that serves both sides? i think it was a working relationship. and i've known many of these journals before entering number ten. it's a game of cat and mouse when they feel you're constantly trying to cover up the truth and we feel on the other side that journalists are picking over every single word and tried to make something out of it, trying to say that there is wrongdoing when actually one slip of a word and all of a sudden you are in a whole new territory. it does come back to how your principal wants to act. theresa may didn't want that cosy relationship, she didn't want that structure. it changed quite differently from my relationships with journalists then. and there you go to the us and trump would choose an journalist from the sun to ask questions from the uk side. afterward, you call them your friends? i said no, they're not ourfriends. it's interesting you talk about agendas both of politicians and their advisers but also of journals. michael, when you're considering source information coming in your direction, presumably you're acutely aware that whoever has given it to you may well have an agenda. every time some source tells you something you have to say well, why are they telling me this, and why have they come to me, what is it to try to get across, and do i believe them? and depending on whether they've got an interest in what's coming up or something they happen to know, that all becomes part of the assessment and part of the calculation that you have to make as to how many and what strength of other sources you need. allegra used to be my producer on newsnight. i was on friendly terms with her. these relationships are very difficult. my own stand is to try and keep a certain distance as much as i can. but there have been relationships in the past. i remember in the blair years both alastair campbell and peter mendelson were very close to certain journalists and it always seemed to be those journalists that came out with the stories that were favourable to the blair government. and i was very uncomfortable with that. and i think a lot of colleagues were uncomfortable with that. that certain journals can be used as mouthpieces for certain politicians. kitty, i wonder if you agree with that assessment? absolutely. i started work in the lobby during blair years. i did not know many people and it seemed to me that the certain senior types that i think at the time were getting all these scoops and my employers were saying, where are you are in all this, why are you not getting scoops? as i get older and develop my own contacts same thing happens with that you have to take a view every time you are told something as michael said, why is this person telling me this and what is their position in the party? presumably if they give you information a couple of times and you don't run a story, in the end they get it well, this journalists isn't much use to me because i'm giving them valuable information but they're not putting it in the public domain. yeah, there's always at risk. i was trying to take a view that you're playing the long game and if someone is insisting on telling you things you have got to wonder why they are saying this to you. much trickier is the occasion when you have got a source who gives you regular good information and then you get some information that's adverse to that source and you have to make the... you're in danger of losing that source if you run it. ultimately i think you have to run it because ultimately you have to judge the story on the public interest and not whether you're going to mess up a potential future source. but those kind of dilemmas you get all the time in this business of politicaljournalism which makes it all the more fascinating in terms of what one should morally do. it certainly is fascinating listening to all five of you. as we entered the home stretch of this edition of the media show, pippa and paul, i must ask you, when you're in the middle of the maelstrom, when the information is out there and is having an impact, are you talking to the fourth two sources gave you this information, and you are you saying to them look if you gave me this information would it have this impact? a duty of care? definitely, absolutely. and that continues. i'm still in touch with some sources from barnard castle scoop. that goes on for a long time. and i would absolutely repeat what pippa has said about duty of care. that something you have to bear in mind all the way through. all of us on the show today are used to operating in a media environment. often the sources speaking to us have no experience whatsoever of the media until the point at which they are thrust into that spotlight. and that to some degree was the case with our source and for our story yesterday. so we absolutely have a duty of care to them to make sure they are ok, that they're dealing with the pressure 0k. because they are anxious and like any source would be about being found out. and we have to make sure that we hold their hands with that, really. i've only 30 seconds michael, in those seconds we have a resignation to become a high—profile resignation. all, a lot more in it? and i think allegra's duty now is go to the local police station and tell them what she knew. we've got a cabinet secretary inquiry, police inquiry potentially, they take it seriously. this is going to run and run. there is huge anger on the conservative backbenchers amongst conservative ministers. and so many other conservatives have been dragged into this by having to defend the prime minister and things they clearly don't believe. michael, that is the last point of today's programme. thank you very much to all five of you. i suspect we could've talked about this for a long time. don't forget you can listen back to all additions via the bbc sounds. we will be back with you at the usual time next week, goodbye. plenty of cloud streaming across the uk at the moment, to come on into the evening, but some very mild air being pulled up from the south, courtesy of this area of low pressure, so actually, our temperatures above average for the time of year through the evening and overnight. quite wet, particularly for england and wales into the evening. skies clearing, just some isolated showers for scotland and northern ireland. temperatures holding up above freezing, aside from perhaps on the most sheltered glens of scotland. generally close to the north of the uk, 6 or 7 degrees, very mild to the south of this band of rain, overnight lows of ii this band of rain, overnight lows of ii or 12. that is because we are pulling up this warm air from a ii or 12. that is because we are pulling up this warm airfrom a long way south in the atlantic and we pull it almost right the way across the uk, a bit like a warm blanket through because of sunday, and we do so as this weather front swings up from the south. some early rains in north wales, the midlands, i think through the afternoon for northern england and northern ireland. later in the day we will see that rain heading into southern scotland. temperatures though to the south of the rain could be even up to 15 degrees in one or two spots. quite a lot of cloud round, but a future brighter spells in the east. sunday night into monday, looks like it could be very windy to the north west of the uk as we see the centre of this area of low pressure pushing through. gales for the northern and western isles. we will see the low pulling away through monday daytime, but it stays breezy here and there will be some fairly frequent showers. could be a little bit wintry on the highest ground and cooler air sinks into northern ireland, scotland and northern england. temperatures back down close to average here. the milder is still to the south, daytime highs of 12 or 13. there will be some rain for england and wales through monday, that was away on tuesday. again, wet and windy to the finals of the uk, through the early part of the week, but from wednesday onwards it is all about this area of high pressure building from the south and as it does take a looks like it really looks out anything colder coming into the uk. through the week ahead, ourfocus is very much on things we are mild, no sign of any significant frost. is if pans out, the weather becomes fairly settled. it could be quite grey and gloomy, however. this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines at five: at least 70 people have been killed as a series of devastating core needles strike the united states focusing on kentucky. this needles strike the united states focusing on kentucky.— needles strike the united states focusing on kentucky. this has been the most devastating _ focusing on kentucky. this has been the most devastating tornado - focusing on kentucky. this has been the most devastating tornado event| the most devastating tornado event in our state's history. and for those that have seen it, what it has done here in grace county and elsewhere, it is indescribable. the only thing i — elsewhere, it is indescribable. the only thing i can say to you all at this time — only thing i can say to you all at this time that we need from everyone is we need _ this time that we need from everyone is we need your players, we need your— is we need your players, we need your helo — the uk faces a substantial wave of omicron infections next month without restrictions that go beyond so—called plan b. the modelling from scientsts comes as health officials issue a fresh appeal for everyone who's eligible to get a boosterjab.

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