good afternoon. a conservative backbencher who has accused government whips of trying to blackmail some mps seeking to oust borisjohnson is to meet the police to discuss his allegations. william wragg said he'd be speaking to a scotland yard detective in the commons early next week. the prime minister has said he's seen no evidence to support the claims — but mr wragg said he wanted any inquiry to be carried out by "experts". our political correspondent helen catt reports. some of the methods used to persuade mps to follow their party line have always been a bit murky. these extraordinarily public allegations levelled at the government and its whips are serious. that some conservative mps suspected of wanting borisjohnson out have been in the end of attempts to intimidate them with embarrassing stories in the press and threats to take away public money from their constituencies. the intimidation of a member of parliament is a serious matter. moreover, the reports of which i am aware would seem to constitute blackmail. now mr wragg has arranged to meet the met police to discuss his allegations. earlier this week the former tory mp cristian wakeford defected to labour. he later said he had been told he wouldn't get a new high school in his constituency if he voted against the government on free school meals. some have suggested there may be more claims to come. i must have spoken to about a dozen tory mps in the lastfew days who have made similar allegations about whips, either offering to withdraw financial support for their constituencies either from the political party, so for campaigning, or for their constituents. downing street has said if it is passed evidence to support any allegations, it would look at it carefully but it hasn't seen any yet. other tories have said they have not experienced any such behaviour. i have voted against the government on occasions when i thought it right and i have always had a very close relationship with the chief whip and a productive relationship with whips, so i am waiting to hear more about this because it is not something i have seen or been told about. meanwhile the prime minister is expected to spend his weekend calling potential rebels. the senior official sue gray is expected to publish her report on downing street parties next week. it is being seen as a possible crunch moment for boris johnson's leadership. helen catt, bbc news. earlier i spoke to helen and asked her ifjohnson loyalists had to be careful with their language when trying to persuade backbench mps to side with the prime minister. i think there's going to be huge scrutiny and you would expect that there may be some efforts being made over this weekend, heading into this week. it's seen as a bit of a crunch week for the prime minister. certainly he is going to have allies on the phone trying to persuade the doubters, the waiverers and trying to win them over, but you are right, coming off the back of this and with this context, there is going to be an enormous amount of scrutiny on exactly what methods are being employed to try and do that. what is the latest with the sue gray report? we have been waiting for it for quite a while now, but obviously she's got various different alleged gatherings to investigate and that list has grown somewhat, but there is a feeling we could get it this week. yes, and part of the reason it has taken longer than perhaps was initially anticipated is because that list has been added to significantly over time. but the expectation is that sue gray will report back this week. they are perhaps thinking earlier this week, next week, coming into, so we should get that this week and of course that is the point that many conservative mps have said they have been waiting for to then take stock and decide what they think in terms of how long they believe mrjohnson should have at number io quite frankly. so this is a really important moment and it will be the point where a lot of conservative mps will have to make their mind up. and that is the moment of danger for the prime minister, or potential danger, if some tory mps don't like it and they put in letters to the 1922 committee chairman, in terms of a no—confidence vote in borisjohnson. they need 5a letters and we don't know how many have already been sent in. no, we don't. they need 5a letters because that is 15% of the parliamentary conservative party, so that is why it hits that magic number. it is notoriously difficult to know how many letters are in, how many are not. we know of six mps who have said they have put one in so far. talking to mps last week, there was a feeling that if it goes, it goes all at once, if you see what i mean, that there might suddenly be a real flurry of letters after the sue gray report. but then again, you never know with these things, there might not be. if you think back to when theresa may was challenged for the leadership, that went on for quite a long time, the sense of people saying, we are nearly there with the letters, and then they weren't and then they were and then they weren't, so it is really difficult to judge. certainly so many conservative mps have pointed to the publication of that sue gray report as being a point of decision that i think it is going to be a really crucial week. the chairman of the commons defence committee says the uk must do more to support ukraine as russian troops gather at its border. the conservative mp, tobias ellwood, said he thinks an invasion is now "imminent" and that president vladimir putin is "taking full advantage of a weakened west". it comes as the united states has delivered its first shipment of military cargo to ukraine, for use in the event of a conflict. here's mark lobel. the threat of conflict persists as president putin continues his apparent drive for a new post—cold war settlement. ukraine is proving the biggest foreign policy test for president biden since us troops left afghanistan. he's left the white house for camp david this weekend to meet his national security team and secretary of state antony blinken, who himself is returning from three days of crisis diplomacy. those ended in talks with his russian counterpart in geneva, which didn't get very far. what i think is possible is a negotiation with russia on some new security architecture from your model eras — the inf agreement of the �*80s, under which intermediate and short—range missiles were banned. if the russian issue is the risk in the future of nato missiles on the russian border sitting in ukraine, that would take that away. but, of course, it would mean the russians, too, had to withdraw weapons. in the meantime, ukraine hasjust received from the us 90 tonnes of what america calls lethal aid, including ammunition for ukraine's front—line forces. washington says it's helping ukraine bolster its defences in the face of growing russian aggression. russia denies an invasion is on the cards, but has 100,000 russian troops near ukraine's border in potentially threatening positions, as this map shows. what we have seen over the last few months with diplomatic talks failing, putin's ultimatum demanding nato push back. of course, that was dismissed. but that has given him the pretext to actually say there is an aggressor and that he must act. he has actually boxed himself into a corner, because so much effort has been put into this. but he also recognised that he will never again be as strong as this to take advantage of the west's weakness. i suspect an invasion is now imminent. russia sparked this diplomatic conflict. this week, the us showed it's keen to resolve it peacefully. but it remains unclear how far both sides are prepared to go to placate the other. mark lobel, bbc news. let's speak to sir andrew wood, a former uk ambassador to russia. thank you for being with us. we had tobias ellwood saying he thinks a russian invasion is imminent. we could be close to one? i russian invasion is imminent. we could be close to one?— could be close to one? i think we are very close — could be close to one? i think we are very close to _ could be close to one? i think we are very close to a _ could be close to one? i think we are very close to a decision - could be close to one? i think we are very close to a decision on i are very close to a decision on whether or not to do one. from the russian side. there is not a great deal of clarity in the situation beyond that russia has sent a huge amount of equipment and a considerable amount of men to ukraine's borders. it has been at war with the ukraine since 2014 and it feels it has got enough by way of accusations against the west to get away with it. i think those accusations are quite easily shown as being falsified, for example, the expansion of nato has been entirely because so many countries have been afraid of what russia is intending or does that they have wanted to join nato. so i thank that is false accusation. join nato. so i thank that is false accusation-— join nato. so i thank that is false accusation. ~ . , �*, , ., , accusation. what is putin's strategy here? what — accusation. what is putin's strategy here? what does _ accusation. what is putin's strategy here? what does he _ accusation. what is putin's strategy here? what does he really - accusation. what is putin's strategy here? what does he really want? . here? what does he really want? ideally what he wants is what he has demanded the ultimatum he has sent to the nato and united states. which is effectively to draw nato forces back to a position that they were in a 1997. he also has the advantage of having had a revolution in both kazakhstan not failed as a revolution, it was a big uprising, and huge protests in belarus which has enabled him to build up a russian military status in belarus. so if he could get ukraine along with that, and also have made us withdraw entirely from romania and bulgaria, he will have a belt of countries whose governments are in effect compelled to accept his demands. which would be a great shift in the position in europe, the european security. has shift in the position in europe, the european security.— shift in the position in europe, the european security. has the west and president biden _ european security. has the west and president biden in _ european security. has the west and president biden in particular - european security. has the west and president biden in particular done i president biden in particular done enough to stand up to putin do you think or to deter him? mr biden was talking about or seem to be hinting about minor incursion might be acceptable, there was rowing back on that afterwards, but has the west done enough? ha. that afterwards, but has the west done enough?— done enough? no. first of all the west has almost _ done enough? no. first of all the west has almost entirely - done enough? no. first of all the i west has almost entirely abandoned the idea of having defence in depth within the european sphere. it's only our country and france that have got effective military forces. the germans have spent very little on their defence and secondly, there is division of attitude and alarm between east european countries which are much closer to russia of course and many under direct threat and the rest of europe. yes, nato is solid but from the perspective of putin, it is not being as committed to defence as it ought to have been. do you think he feels emboldened, for example, when he sees crimea, he managed to do so without substantial retaliation in terms of military retaliation. has thatjust encouraged him, do you think, to potentially go into ukraine as well? certainly and in fact he has gone into an eastern part of ukraine anyway, having encouraged to local people there to come to his side. though a million or so fled to ukraine proper and ukraine proper is very hostile to russian ambitions now. and since then we have also had different ideas put forward by people in the eu, so i think there is a sense that yes, europe and the united states are less resolute than they should be. we also had to focus on the fact that putin himself is in a sense very much takes his decisions without consulting his colleagues very much, that he has been alarmed by the fact that there have been popular revolutions against governments like his own, recently in kazakhstan, in belarus and india twice in the ukraine. —— indeed twice in the ukraine. so he might secure things by producing a solid group of countries and people committed to his rule of russia, but he also has good reason to be rather nervous about it. the revolutions have almost always been caused by the perception of the leaders corruption, the fact that any wealth is not shared with people as a whole and more over, they are not in effect consulted and what their countries can, should or may do. just briefly, finally, is there any potential for a negotiated settlement in all of this? some sort of compromise between russia and the west? ~ ._ ., of compromise between russia and the west? ~ , ., ., , west? well, the way that putin has itched it west? well, the way that putin has pitched it will _ west? well, the way that putin has pitched it will make _ west? well, the way that putin has pitched it will make that _ west? well, the way that putin has pitched it will make that very i pitched it will make that very difficult. what we are trying to do is to talk about security in general and see if there is a better way of securing our relations with russia and so one. but putin himself has beenin and so one. but putin himself has been in power since 2000. he has, over the last two years, conducted a complete re—shuttle of the russian constitution which in effect turned him into a form of tyranny. russia's not doing well economically, russia also has been greatly hit by the covid pandemic, he doesn't really have an idea as to how he can make better economic outcome for russia, so he innocence is stuck. that is the danger of the situation. that he has a huge dilemma and he feels the outcome for him in his country to which she has no obvious solution. nobody quite knows what will happen to russia over the next decade or so. . ~' to russia over the next decade or so. . ~ , ., y to russia over the next decade or so. . ~' , ., , . to russia over the next decade or so. . , . ,,~ so. thank you very much. sir andrew wood, a so. thank you very much. sir andrew wood. a former— so. thank you very much. sir andrew wood, a former british _ so. thank you very much. sir andrew wood, a former british ambassador. so. thank you very much. sir andrew. wood, a former british ambassador to moscow. a man has appeared in court charged with the murder of an 86—year—old woman and the attempted murder of her 88—year—old husband. freda walker was found dead at her home in langwithjunction, derbyshire a week ago. ken walker, a former district councillor, was found severely injured and remains in hospital in a critical condition. 33—year—old vasile culea appeared before magistrates in nottingham and was remanded in custody to appear at derby crown court on tuesday. two women have been taken to hospital after a knife attack in north west london. it happened in station road, harrow. police say the injured women were slashed and a third woman was punched by the suspect. a woman has been detained and taken to hospital for mental health assessment. there are calls to delay or rethink the government's policy of compulsory covid vaccines for frontline healthcare workers in england over concerns it could worsen problems with staff shortages. hundreds of nhs workers took to the streets of london this afternoon, in protest against the new rules. currently, staff have until the 3rd february to receive their first dose to allow enough time to be fully vaccinated by the deadline of 1st april. the department of health and social care said there were no plans to delay the policy. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's sarah mulkerrins. the post rafa benetiz era at everton began with defeat, they lost 1 nil to aston villa in the premier league's early kick off at goodison park. duncan ferguson has taken interim charge for a second spell, and he watched on as emi buendia scored the winner, which saw some unsavoury scenes during the celebrations. a couple of players were hit by a bottle thrown from the crowd. drew savage reports. you only have to look outside goodison park to know who everton were hoping would put the smile is back on fan spaces, at least in the short term. duncan ferguson are stepping up again from coach to caretaker manager. his team showed the anger that big duncan would doubtless have demanded. but not quite the quality. a recent transfer to villa, a renewed man but it was from the frenchman's corner that the visitors took the lead just before half—time. but as they celebrated, struck by an object thrown from the crowd. bill had the better chances in the first half but after the break, it was all about men in blue shirts throwing themselves at everything that came their way. ben godfrey �*s efforts scrambled away before dominic calvert—lewin regretted not making better contact with the cross. everton kept plugging away but couldn't find the breakthrough that they and ferguson would have hoped for. steven gerrard ending up on the winning side will not have helped moods. some supporters not happy with things behind—the—scenes at goodison. big duncan has a big challenge. and everton have said that police have arrested the supporter who threw a missile onto the pitch after the goal — after identifying the fan using cctv footage. let's have a look at the three, 3 o'clock kick offs in the premier league — david moyes is back at old trafford, taking his west ham side to manchester united. it is goalless in all three of those games so far. brentford taking on walls and leads against newcastle united. you can follow it all on the bbc sport website. in the championship, nottingham forest beat derby county 2—1 in a heated east midlands derby. goals from lewis grabban and brennanjohnson put forest ahead before tom lawrence scored a penalty for derby, who ended the match with ten men after ravel morrison was sent off in injury time. forest move up to eighth while derby remain 23rd amidst their off—field troubles. hearts have comfortably avoided a shock in the scottish cup, after a 5—0 win over sixth—tier side auchinleck talbot to reach the last 16. the ayrshire minnows have form for knocking bigger clubs out of the cup, but this one was never in doubt. liam boyce scoring one of his two goals here. andy halliday, peter haring and alex cochrane with hearts�* other goals. there's been a moment of skiing history today — as dave ryding has won britain's first alpine skiing world cup gold medal with victory in the kitzbuhel slalom. the 35—year—old who is heading to next month's winter olympics in beijing was sitting sixth after his first run in austria, but was the fastest out of the field by the time the two runs were complete. he also became the oldest winner of a men's world cup slalom, and said afterwards, i guess there's life in the old dog yet. dan evans has been knocked out of the australian open, losing to ninth seed felix auger—aliassime, and therefore ending british interest in the singles at the tournament. evans was seeded 24th but comfortably beaten in the third round by the canadian. it finished 6-4, 6-1, 6-1- meaning evans is the last of the seven britons to fall. leinster ran in ten tries as they crushed bath in the champions cup. it was a great afternoon forjimmy 0'brien, this his second try of the first half to secure the bonus point as they led 33—7 at the break. it was more of the same after the interval as 0'brien added his fourth and leinster�*s tenth try here. the final score was 64—7 with leinster moving top of pool a. scotland's scott jamieson is still hanging on to the lead at golf�*s hsbc championship in abu dhabi. jamieson birdied the last hole to stay top of the leaderboard going into the final round. jamieson is one shot clear of ireland's shane lowry and belgiums�* thomas pieters. that's all the sport for now. the un has condemned an air strike by the saudi—led coalition on a detention centre in yemen. the country's houthi rebels, who have been fighting the saudi—led coalition, say at least 82 people were killed and more than 260 others injured. it follows nights of bombing raids, after a rocket fired by houthi rebels killed three people in the united arab emirates earlier this week. earlier i spoke to jacob burns, communcations adviser for the humanitarian group medicins sans frontieres i have been speaking to colleagues inside the city this morning. they describe that in the early hours of friday morning, they were at home, they have the sound ofjets flying over the city and then three explosions. we know that the air strike hit the city prison where there are reported to have been upwards of 1500 people detained at the time. the air strike has caused hundreds of deaths and injuries, the latest numbers that we have been given by the ministry of health in yemen is that there have been 82 people killed in this strike and 266 people killed in this strike and 266 people wounded. 0ne people killed in this strike and 266 people wounded. one of my colleagues inside the city was in a hospital this morning and he said the hospital was facing a very difficult situation with so many wounded that some of the casualties were lying on the floor in the hospital because there were no more beds for them. what is msf able to do in the aftermath of this tragedy and also to help the general humanitarian disaster that is afflicting this country? disaster that is afflicting this count ? ~ ., , , , country? we are present inside the ci , we country? we are present inside the city. we made _ country? we are present inside the city, we made immediately - country? we are present inside the city, we made immediately some l city, we made immediately some donations to this hospital. we sent a truck full of medical supplies from the capital to the city last night and are working with the ministry of health to see how we can respond as quickly as possible to these huge needs that have been caused by this air strike. and we are working across the country in yemen, across front lines and what we see it well there are these moments of intense violence, after seven years of the civil war, we see every day the effects of these less dramatic but no less serious long—term crises which are caused by the war such as the economic crises and the almost total collapse of the health care system in the country. it is seven years that began in 2015, do you see any way out of this? is this horror going to keep continuing? it this? is this horror going to keep continuing?— continuing? it is definitely a moment where _ continuing? it is definitely a moment where the - continuing? it is definitely a moment where the conflictl continuing? it is definitely a i moment where the conflict has intensified again and colleagues in the capital have been reporting to me each night this week of heavy air strikes. there were again as strikes this morning so feels we are caught in a moment where the conflict is escalating yet again and it is hard to see how that finishes. tonga's clean—up continues with the help of foreign aid — one week after the volcanic eruption and tsunami devastated the pacific island. emergency supplies of water are being distributed in tonga a week after a the undersea volcanic eruption. supplies have been arriving by sea and air from australia, new zealand and the uk. the united nations says tonga will depend on emergency food supplies for some time to come. 0ur correspondent phil mercer in sydney has the latest on the international humanitarian aid efforts and the work to reconnect an undersea communication cable. it is among a raft of catastrophic damage to property and infrastructure, and as you say, aid coming in from many, many countries led by australia and new zealand. water is a significant issue. any water supplies on the archipelago were contaminated by that blanket of ash that rained down on this pacific nation of about 105,000 people and this will be an international aid effort like no other. authorities in tonga are introducing very strict disease control measures because tonga has just recorded only one known coronavirus case since the pandemic began, so clearly it doesn't want to recover from one disaster by inviting another in. so what they are doing is foreign aid workers, in order to go into the country, will have two adhere to three weeks of isolation. if you look in other parts of the pacific in recent days, kiribati, a population about the same of tonga, was covid free but now is going into lockdown as is samoa, so the authorities in tonga being very careful as that international aid continues to roll in. the hollywood star, arnold schwarzenegger, has been involved in a multi—vehicle crash in los angeles. a woman has been taken to hospital. a spokesperson for the former california governor said he was unharmed. nickjohnson reports. from the sky above the la suburbs, arnold schwarzenegger's black suv flanked by tow trucks, some hours after it was involved in a multi—vehicle crash. photos taken on the us showbiz news site tmz showed the body—builder, actor and politician standing at the scene talking to a police officer, with the black suv teetering on top of both a toyota prius and a porsche. police say the four vehicle collision happened on friday afternoon in the wealthy brentwood area of la. one woman was taken to hospital but it is not thought her injuries are life—threatening. well, i told tom to get a six pack. but he got a cake instead. a spokesperson for the actor confirmed the 74—year—old was behind los angeles police department say no arrests have been made and neither drugs or alcohol were involved, but the investigation is continuing. nickjohnson, bbc news. the royal mail has been warned by the regulator, 0fcom, it must improve its service after some people got their christmas post in the middle ofjanuary. the company said delivery offices had been struggling because of staffing problems created by coronavirus. i've been speaking to our business correspondent, ramzan karmali. royal mail .2 coronavirus and the 0micron variant. the first week in january 15,000 people were absent from work, about double what they would have expected. in 2020 it was lower even though we did have coronavirus at the time. 0fcom have come out and said, if you don't get your act together, we are going to take action. 0fcom have got previous. back in 2020 they find