would a young ken clarkjoin the conservative party these days? no idea. that's a diffficult question i've been asked before. yes, i think i might. my views... i have always been driven by my views. i am a free market economist and combined with a social conscience. it needs to be regulated and for benefit of everybody and i am internationalist, pro—european... and to use your own words you are impeccably working class. i believe in meritocracy and social mobility. i don't want to make a big deal of it, but that was kicking off the start of my book, my origins. i wonder what there is about the conservative party... as a young man... you make the point why young people who would have voted remain, as indeed you would have, why they would be attracted to the conservative party. it can only make itself more attractive. i was attracted because it was then the modernising and forward—looking party. the post—war politics in the post—war position of britain which had atrophied. we had been a laughing stock after the suez canal. so droves of young people j

yes, ithink joined the conservative party these days? no idea. yes, i thinki joined the conservative party these days? no idea. yes, ithinki might. might use... i have always been driven by my views. i add a free market economist and combined with a social conscience. it needs to be regulated and the benefit of everybody and i am internationalist, pro— european... everybody and i am internationalist, pro- european... and to use your own words you are impeccably working class. i believe in meritocracy and social mobility. that kicked off the start of my will, my origins. social mobility. that kicked off the start of my will, my originslj wonder what there is about the conservative party... as a young man, you make the point why young people who would have voted remain, as indeed you would have, why they would be attracted to the conservative party. it can only make itself more attractive. it was an attractive because it was then be modernising and forward looking party did post war politics in the post—war position of britain which had atrophi

both parties are in a frightful mess. yes, but it is the conservative party... the public attitudes towards them are totally unpredictable. indeed. but if the conservative party, if it had to fight another election — we learned from the chairman of the campaign for conservative democracy that the membership, he reckons, is about 70,000. we don't know figures, because they have not provided figures forfour years. in my political career. and when comparing with... i don't exactly bring down the average age when i go to meetings, but i still do not feel out of place. and there are many, many fewer people than there used to be. comparing to a labour party that has half a million members as of last summer... they have mass membership of young lefties who are totally unrepresentative of their generation as well. 0k. both sides, activists, do not represent the people who vote for them. indeed. as far as the conservatives are concerned, queen mary university did some research — nearly half the conservative party members are over 65, nine out of ten are middle class

brandon lewis is the new conservative party chair, replacing patrick mcloughlin, whose departure had been anticipated, following the party's poor performance in last june's general election. earlier this morning, the northern ireland secretary, james brokenshire, resigned from the cabinet for health reasons. a short time ago, he spoke tojournalists, reaffirming his support for the government. theresa may got a fantastic popular vote in the general election, and she needs to carry on with delivering what she has set out she wants to do. and she will. thanks very much. i'm not... i have enjoyed it immensely. thank you. patrick mcloughlin, speaking this morning. james brokenshire gave an explanation of his reasons for resigning as northern ireland secretary. over the last few weeks, i have been having a number of health tests, and this has revealed that i have a small lesion in my right lung that will require surgery to remove. whilst the health team believed that will deal with the issue and that i will be back to work, it will take a number of weeks, and time where i will need to be a

you are half the age of the conservative party. you must be the youngest person in the room bya mile, no? everybody says that, but no, there is lots of young conservative groups, we have a great young conservative movement and we go to lots of socials and meetings and i'm not the only person. and you're on the liberal end, the younger demographic, political views as well, because i think you support theresa may, are in favour of same sex marriage. yes definitely. i go to meetings and i'm the oldest one. how did that happen? we have shown this young activist labour party, your members are the same age as the conservative parties. 53 to 57. well, there is a big influx of new, young members and they have more energy than activists have had. i have been doing this for a0 years and i have never seen so many people saying, we are going out are you coming? labour do have half a million members. it is incredible. let's talk to professor fisher. is it an issue that these people have too much power? if it is an issue, it has always been an i

i think this isa conservative party too. i think this is a nod, a gesture to try to kickstart the tory party's electoral appeal once again, to appeal to younger voters who really deserted the tory party at last year's election and flocked to labour, to appeal to minority ethnic voters and really start a new generation and a new phase in the tory party with new ideas, new thinking and a new approach fit for the digital age. thank you. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages. at 10:40 this evening in the papers. my guests joining me tonight are the times columnist jenni russell and martin lipton, deputy head of sport at the sun. a couple who met on an internet dating website have been convicted of planning a devastating christmas terror attack inspired by the islamic state group. munir mohammed, an asylum seeker from sudan who was living in derby, had stored up bomb—making components with the help of a his girlfriend, a pharmacist. the court heard the pair were also res

the conservative party, in theory, should represent the interests of business. that is what it has traditionally been about. the business will not put up with the sort of lying that the conservative party is destined for. so either party will will need to start adjusting and along with the parliament and the prime minister or we will go win for a fantastic dustup. what will they do? what can they do? they will say we need clarity. we cannot plan x years ahead without clarity. there is no clarity because there is no unity in the government, in the conservative party. until they can reach an agreed view, it is impossible to put forward a british position. we are in a mess. i can understand the irritability and indeed impatience by european partners, former european partners, with the british position. it is caused by a political crisis within the government. and a political crisis so easy to muddle up, the conservative party and the nation, but they are a different thing. this is the problem we face. the tory party has to sort itself out, and it has to actually be

the conservative party has nothing like that number of people. we have a huge number of great people delivering leaflets every day and knocking on doors. injune last year was the test, we did not win the seats we wanted but we got over 1 million votes that we wanted. in decades, and i want to make sure we're building on that and as you say quite rightly, building our online presence as well but doing it in and spectral way. brandon lewis talking about the challenges of increasing membership. the numbers issue incidentally has been a lifeline recently because they have not published the figures publicly for many years, and there are calls for many years, and there are calls for them to be more transparent. labour is claiming around half a million and error fears around tory circles that it has not too 100,000. clearly things for brandon lewis to get his teeth into. building up the activists from the ground level and focusing on their online strategy. will stop chinese media is reporting that the oil tanker which has been on fire in the east china

the conservative party has nothing like that number of people. we have a huge number of great people delivering leaflets and knocking on doors, the last test, june last year, we did not win the seat we wanted to win but god 1 million more votes, the biggest vote share we have had in decades. iwant to make sure we are building on that. quite rightly, building an online presence as well, doing it in a respectful way. i'm joined now by giles kenningham, former conservative party director of communications. what you think of this new online respect pledge? good starting point, reset the conversation, recast, too much boil and vitriol pumped out online for people across the political spectrum, it is poisoning the well of political debate and acting as a barrierfor of political debate and acting as a barrier for people who want to get into front line politics. good thing but not the smoking gun. what is? a series of measures, if we are to get any further forward with this we need some form of ross party consensus. they do have said they are not willing

what was interesting, we see the divisions within the conservative party. there are potentially divisions also within the labour party. a lot of labour members want to have a clearer direction from jeremy corbyn on what happens after brexit. today, we had some of that from jeremy corbyn in particular on the issue of the customs union. he was basically saying that after brexit he would wa nt saying that after brexit he would want there to be a kind of customs union, not the one that exists now. he talked about not wanting to go down the norway route and replicate that model but certainly do have some kind of customs union and maintain that close trading relationship. 0n the issue of free movement, while he said that there would be no free movement, he talks about easy movement, making sure that when we need nurses from the eu and what have you, they would be able to come over. a bit more detail from him, this is what he said. we would want a form of customs union. obviously, whether it would be the customs union, the answer is no, because it would require be

i can't underestimate the conservative party's ability to discuss the electorate. we will see in the london elections in may what happens to the tories in london. british people may want to vote for a mangy aardvark rather than vote for the present conservative party. that is what worries me. is this the year we get off brexit as a conversation? is it possible to talk about something... the headlines of the newspapers tomorrow, nhs tells hospital to cancel routine operations. winter crisis cripples the nhs. the guardian on the same topic. it is the issue that most people are concerned about. 5196. at the nhs is now 45%, the highest it has been for 16 years. it is rising up. people are getting more and more concerned. it relates to brexit, people link the two together. just give the nhs a few billion more as an emergency and the immediate crisis subsides. it doesn't solve the problem but it takes it out of the headlines, that is what they will do. it is what they always do. but people are using the nhs. this is what people get wrong, the public are constantly using

party hqa hazard were give conservative party hq a kick up the backside to make it a more effective campaigning machine. norman, i given much. -- thank you very much. in, the news, but first, the weather. it has been a cold day today. there have been some big, big brother contrasts north and south. northern areas seeing barely a cloud in the sky and plenty of sunshine. a thick layer of low cloud in southern england. the weather courtesy of this area of high pressure, we have a sinking down towards the surface of the earth, and when that happens, the air tends to become more dry. when it reaches the ground, we will have clear blue skies like we have seen have clear blue skies like we have seen today across the northern half of the uk. this is from scotland earlier. across the south of the uk, the air has not quite descended all the air has not quite descended all the way to the service, allowing this layer of grey, drab skies to work and a lot of low cloud. that is how it is gone to stay today. this evening and overnight, the wind turns to a south—easterly and that will tend to pus

i want to pick up on something that you were saying about the conservative party. we had a reshuffle this week that was quite extraordinary, and you talk to people at westminster all the time. for international viewers who didn't follow it, we had a health secretary who apparently was going to be given anotherjob and managed to persuade the prime minister to not only stay in this job but to add another title to it. another cabinet minister who was told she was going somewhere else dug her heels in, spent three hours in downing street and came out on the backbenches instead. what does that tell us about theresa may's authority, how much of it was tied up with brexit? it has been an extraordinary week. it has. shambolic is the only thing you can make of this reshuffle. normally it is a time of the utmost prime ministerial power. unfortunately, this one... i don't know, really... she's badly served by some of the people around her. there appears to be no proper preparation for a reshuffle. the idea that somehow... jeremy hunt has been a close colleague of hers for ove

we had about the conservative party. we had a reshuffle this week that was quite extraordinary, and you talk to people at westminster all the time. international viewers who didn't follow it, we had a health secretary who apparently was going to be given anotherjob who apparently was going to be given another job and managed who apparently was going to be given anotherjob and managed to persuade the prime minister not only to stay in thisjob but the prime minister not only to stay in this job but to add another title to it. another cabinet minister who was told she was going somewhere else dug her heels in, spent three hours in downing street and came out on the backbenches instead. what does this tell us about theresa may's authority, how much of it was tied up with brexit? it has been an extraordinary week. shambolic is the only thing you can make of this reshuffle. normally it is a time of the utmost prime ministerial power. unfortunately, this one, i don't know, really... she's badly served by some of the people arou

the conservative party, in theory, should represent the interests of business. that is what it has traditionally been about. the business will not put up with the sort of lying that the conservative party is destined for. so either party will will need to start adjusting and along with the parliament and the prime minister or we will go in for a fantastic dustup. —— bust up. what will they do? what can they do? they will say we need clarity. we cannot plan x years ahead without clarity. there is no clarity because there is no unity in the government, in the conservative party. until they can reach an agreed view, it is impossible to put forward a british position. we are in a mess. i can understand the irritability and indeed impatience by european partners, former european partners, with the british position. it is caused by a political crisis within the government. and a political crisis so easy to muddle up, the conservative party and the nation, but they are a different thing. this is the problem we face. the tory party has to sort itself out, and it has

i think the lancaster house speech on the conservative party manifesto set upa on the conservative party manifesto set up a good basis for brexit. the key is that that should be the policy that is implemented. there are some concerns about the eu's demands for the transition period, andi demands for the transition period, and i think it's important at this stage to make it clear that we will not simply roll over and accept what the eu is asking for. well, the leading eurosceptic conservative backbencher, bernard jenkin, joins us live from westminster now. do you agree with your colleague jacob rees mogg that uk negotiators are being cowed by the eu? there are some different agendas running from within the government, and the chancellor's speech rather reflects that. but those agendas don't reflect what the prime minister wa nts. reflect what the prime minister wants. the prime minister has been clear that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. she's not going to agree to some indeterminate transition. she will agree to an implementation period when it is clear what is being implem

for the conservative party at the moment back core me55age conservative party at the moment back core message is deeply unappealing to young people and that'5 unappealing to young people and that's the problem they've got. given that they are stuck on this track of going for brexit and pu5hing track of going for brexit and pushing it through and being identified with it, and it's really something we are having because of the rupture5 and divisions in the conservative party, thi5 the rupture5 and divisions in the conservative party, this is the problem they've got. it is something inherently unpopular with younger people. let's stay with the sunday telegraph. they've also got a story about carillion which does construction as well as other things and they are in serious trouble. they are clearly part of the government's plans for hs2 and so on. this will be the big story of the week, they have huge debts of abouti.6 the week, they have huge debts of about 1.6 billion, a pension fund black hole of 600 million and a company that looks as though it is on the brink of collapse. so far the

the conservative party has nothing like that number of people. we have a huge number of great people delivering leaflets every day and knocking on doors. in june last year was the test, we did not win the seats we wanted but we got overi million votes that we wanted. biggest vote share in decades, and i want to make sure we're building on that and as you say quite rightly, building our online presence as well but doing it in a respectful way. brandon lewis talking about the challenges of increasing membership. the numbers issue incidentally has been a lifeline recently because they have not published the figures publicly for many years, and there are calls for them to be more transparent. labour is claiming around half a million and fears around tory circles that it has dropped below 100,000. clearly things for brandon lewis to get his teeth into. building up the activists from the ground level and focusing on their online strategy. police on humberside say a man who died after an attack at his home near driffield may have been shot with a crossb

what was interesting, we see the divisions within the conservative party. there are potentially divisions also within the labour party. a lot of labour members want to have a clearer direction from jeremy corbyn on what happens after brexit. today, we had some of that from jeremy corbyn in particular on the issue of the customs union. he was basically saying that after brexit he would want there to be a kind of customs union, not the one that exists now. he talked about not wanting to go down the norway route and replicate that model but certainly to have some kind of customs union and maintain that close trading relationship. on the issue of free movement, while he said that there would be no free movement, he talks about easy movement, making sure that when we need nurses from the eu and what have you, they would be able to come over. a bit more detailfrom him. this is what he said. we would want a form of customs union. obviously, whether it would be the customs union, the answer is no, because it would require being a member of the eu, which we're not.

the conservative party wa nts what kind of party the conservative party wants to be. and no doubt downing street will hope today's appointments go somewhat more smoothly. and some other news to reflect on, journalist toby young has stood down from his role with the office of students. it has been a lot of criticism, he has been defended by some conservative mps as well. is that another blow for theresa may? there was a huge backlash at his appointment because of offensive comments he had made on twitter in the past. and theresa may appeared to give him her support, saying any further comments and he would lose hisjob. now he has chosen to go because he says he had become a distraction from the work of the board of the office for students. it is another unwelcome signal that not all smooth sailing at all times for theresa may's government. great to talk to you as ever, as i throw my paper across the table. and at 7:10am we will be talking to the new chairman of the conservative party, brandon lewis. i know many of you are getting in touch with us about this particular

brandon lewis becomes the new conservative party chairman. boris johnson and becomes the new conservative party chairman. borisjohnson and amber rudd keep theirjobs. the couplet who met on a muslim dating site are found guilty of planning a terror attack in the uk. in sport, andy murray's had hip surgery and is targeted a return to tennis in summer. england's cricketers have lost the ashes series a—0 after an innings defeat to australia in the final test. james anderson says the series hasn't been a disaster. and coutinho's now officially a barcelona player, completing his £1a2 million dealfrom liverpool. he signed the deal but won't be able to debut for another three weeks because of injury. i'll be back with a full update in the next 15 minutes. carrie gracie has said she resigned as the bbc‘s china editor because she could not "collude" in a policy of "unlawful pay discrimination". she quit, citing pay inequality with male international editors earning more than her. in a statement, the bbc said "fairness in pay" was "vital" and the c

one of the conservative party's leading hero skeptics. and donald trump wants to hand out prizes for fake news we will look at the u.s. president's troubled relationship with the press plus and power in china's disabled we look at a new program to help the mentally challenged find jobs and depend. on. all that and more coming up in just a few minutes time. that local touch . plane leaves at full speed playing. plane but always almost local movie today and in the future. in sixty minutes or less. the lives of. the studios in song it's all about george dance to discover the world from different perspectives. join us in blue sponsored by just instagram or yours. g.w. story it's the top of each week on instagram. are you up to speed on the latest technology. no then it may be time for an upgrade to. become part of the future become a cyborg and if i could just say a word so i've created a new sense new organ and design my perception of reality implants that make every day life easier. i use my you. on a daily basis that optimize the human bod

brandon lewis has been made chairman of the conservative party. before the reshuffle beganjames brokenshire said he was stepping down due to ill health. we will have the latest from downing street. also this lunchtime. former football coach barry bennell pleads guilty to six child sex offences as his trial gets under way. hollywood's sexual harrassment scandal dominates the golden globe awards as the stars all dress in black to show solidarity with victims. the bbc‘s china editor quits her role over gender pay after turning down a pay rise. she says she couldn't "collude" with an unfair pay structure. it's at the edge! australia thinks so, so does the umpire! and it's all over — england bow to the inevitable as they lose the final ashes test and the series 4—0. also coming up in the sport. philippe coutinho‘s £142 million move to barcelona from liverpool will be rubber stamped today, making him the the second most expensive player in the world. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. theresa may has begun the most extensive res

the conservative party message. wanted to hear, rather than the conservative party messagelj wanted to hear, rather than the conservative party message. i agree, the mistake we made in the election was using social media and targeting that towards a younger people with an older people's message. talking aboutjeremy an older people's message. talking about jeremy corbyn and an older people's message. talking aboutjeremy corbyn and his legs to ira does not equate to people with my age who went around at that time. i think it needs to be a positive message and what the conservatives can do to young people rather than just criticising labour for their policies. when we talk about young people, young people doesn'tjust mean students. labour have a very clear and inspiring student policy. but, the conservatives can achieve in other areas of young people. for instance, housing and young professionals. if we target those people, not students, we will make ground and convince people to vote conservatives. thank you. the head

the former conservative party director of communications there. now the weather with phil. hello. after a spell of very wet and very windy weather across all parts of british isles, the forthcoming week promises to be a good deal colder than anything we have seen for a good wee while. there will be snow in the forecast. it'll be much windier than the week gone bi. the transition comes behind this band of weather, which has already made an impact across northern and western parts of the british isles. through the rest of the night. so it'll continue its journey ever—further towards the south and east. around about that weather front we could easily see gusts of winds around 60 to 70 miles per hour in exposed locations, not a particularly cold night. the breeze may drop out. such a frost here perhaps but that's not really the main story. here we g in imtoo for the school run and morning commute and a wet and windy one all over east anglia. the south—east, south and east midlands, central and southern england, parts of the west country, too. following on behind, no real relief. t

other new appointments include brandon lewis as conservative party chairman. looking forward to getting on with thejob, very honoured looking forward to getting on with the job, very honoured and looking forward to getting on with thejob, very honoured and proud that the prime minister has asked me to lead a great party, great professionals and colleagues. looking forward to taking over. despite ringing some changes, the prime minister has decided to maintain the status quo with her key cabinet positions. so how much of a rejuvenation of the government, is this reshuffle? we'll have the latest from westminster. the other main stories on bbc news at 5: at the start of his trial, former football coach barry bennell pleads guilty to seven child sex offences against boys aged between 11 and 1a. a couple who met on a muslim dating site have been found guilty of planning a terror attack in the uk. the bbc‘s china editor carrie gracie has quit over equal pay,

if they don't get additional concessions from the conservatives will the party base then say hey but you told us you were going to essentially renegotiate that position paper that was the rig it's the result of the exploratory talks and then you didn't wind up changing anything at all so i think there is a challenge there on the other hand they have now lobbed the ball into the court of the chancellor and she now also will be under some degree of pressure at least to create a little bit of room for maneuver the big question is her bavarian conservatives will they give her that space and so after watching all the fissures in the social democratic party we may now be watching the fissures in the conservatives yes indeed just picking up on what you had said about some of these maybe over promising and not getting caught would you or would you have some remarks from andrea knowledges who is the general secretary of the s.p.d. where she's trying to convince the voters that there might be a bit more wiggle room and what they can get out of the c.d.u. c.s.u. let's run those remarks. these a

other new appointments include brandon lewis as conservative party chairman. looking forward to getting on with thejob, very honoured looking forward to getting on with the job, very honoured and looking forward to getting on with thejob, very honoured and proud that the prime minister has asked me to lead a great party, great professionals and colleagues. looking forward to taking over. despite ringing some changes, the prime minister has decided to maintain the status quo with her key cabinet positions. so how much of a rejuvenation of the government, is this reshuffle? we'll have the latest from westminster. the other main stories on bbc news at 5: at the start of his trial, former football coach barry bennell pleads guilty to seven child sex offences against boys aged between 11 and 1a. a couple who met on a muslim dating site have been found guilty of planning a terror attack in the uk. the bbc‘s china editor carrie gracie has quit over equal pay, saying she couldn't "collude" with an unfair pay structure. a new day is on the horizon. and at the golden

how credible is it for these parties the conservatives as well as the social democrats to tell their voters and their members that they're negotiating and as if the parties on the other side of the table were something new and something that's beer to be discovered i mean that's just not true is it i mean they know each other they they've been governing together there are new elements of surprise left or am i wrong. no i think you are right i mean these parties both parties have been governing together as you said for the past four years so the politicians know each other very well and we've seen that in the exploratory talks that i've covered these past weeks they had pretty much quick results in the beginning because they they they've known each other they work together they know what they want but. that also means that this continuation of a grand coalition is lacking the big ideas those ideas that might change germany in one way or the other and they are looking really clear policy goals so that is something that especially the social democratic membership base didn't didn't like

so for the conservative party to earn theirgreen so for the conservative party to earn their green credentials, they have to be a lot more proactive about tackling these issues before the environmental damage occurs. about tackling these issues before the environmental damage occursm rural areas, life can sometimes move ata rural areas, life can sometimes move at a sedate pace. but the passion stirred on how to protect the environment only becomes more heated with time. nick watt. now i am joined by the leading lights of the movement, sallyjohnson, former conservative mep, environmental campaigner for over 15 years —— 50 years. caroline lucas is the green party's only mp. anything from what you have seen so far that you disagree with, this action on plastics, trees, farmer subsidies based on what they get back. there is very little that you disagree with, i am assuming. little i disagree with so far. the devil will be in the details on whether or not there is real legislative weight behind the proposals we are hearing. what we need to see is a real commitment to the environment act, which

it isa the conservative party manifesto. it is a pity that number 11 downing st is a pity that number 11 downing st is undermining government policy, and i‘m very reassured that the prime minister and her office has been so clear. and of course, the prime minister is authoritative. she is first lord of that it, the chancellor is second lord. you said ina chancellor is second lord. you said in a newspaper article earlier this month that it is essential that the pm and chancellor improve their working relationship and advocate the same policies, new government works from these figures are not united. you wrote this. so what other problems going forward, as you see them? well, i think this is not a good position for the chancellor to be and, to be undermining the prime minister. that it is of the utmost urgency that he should unite his position with that of the prime minister and without of the conservative party. a little bit of freelancing is very unhelpful. there has been freelancing going on from various members of the ca

within the conservative party on this very important matter finally andrea mitchell do you think your case for sustaining that zero point seven percent of of national income devoted to international development do you think that will be sustained and when the day if they do because parliament will not allow even if the government wanted to parliament will not allow britain to step back from that commitment and both by that i have every confidence that the government will continue to stand by this is story commitment that is delivering so much around the world to britain's interest as well as to the interest of the people we're helping now under just just one remaining thing from the well from the new year from coming on a state in a patient total to the quick gallic for the loving cup you know how to do this of course goes in there or some other less potent substance if you wish and then you pass alone your close friends and only your close friends thank you very much indeed i have a scottish heritage so i'm familiar with it and i shal use it with pride and pleasure and rachel thank y

divisions in the conservative party. it just adds to the ongoing impression that this is a prime minister without the big authority to steer the administration forward. mark: was there a sense with david david -- david davis and liam fox talking about regulatory alignment, was there , these of those speeches zone out of those two was satisfactory? and philip hammond spoils it? >> it is a difficult job to try to bring together these very opposite factions of the conservative party. and the labour party is divided on the subject. as is the country as a whole. i do think that the conservative party has a big problem. every time someone says something on one side, the opposite says the opposite. we had this today with mr. else who issomebody a figurehead for the more extreme brexiteers coming out with his comments. there is no proper compromise between them and we are only at the beginning of the process as we try to figure out what kind of trade agreement we want and what relationship britain wants with the rest of the worl

the uk prime minister is said to be fighting battles within her conservative party over the terms of leaving the european union and today the eu is expected to sign off on what it wants for the all—importa nt transition phase. there are two key dates. the 29th march next year is when the uk government insists it's leaving the eu. the second is 31 december 2020. that's when the eu wants the so—called transition period to end. and brussels says the uk will stay in the customs union and single market until then which means eu rules continue to apply even though the uk will have no say in making any changes. one big disagreement is likely to be over international trade deals. the eu argues that while the uk is still in the single market it can't sign its own trade deals without approval from brussels. but on friday the uk's brexit secretary david davis insisted the uk would be free to sign its own trade deals during the transition period. we are hoping to go live to brussels to getan we are hoping to go live to brussels to get an expert view on all of this, hopefully in a couple of m

the sunday telegraph has an interview with the new conservative party chairman — he tells the paper he wants to galvanise the party's digital campaigning. the observer reports claims by nigel farage that pro—europeans could overturn the result of the brexit referendum and that the leave side has stopped fighting. and the sunday express claims economists are warning the eu that failing to reach a brexit deal with britain could cost it £500 billion. so, let's begin. we are going to start this evening with the observer and nigel farage who has had a couple of things this who has had a couple of things this week, started off saying he thinks there should be a second referendum and it rather bizarrely put him in agreement with vince cable. he said he thought the league side would winds very well and now he seems to be saying the opposite. but two days later, he thinks the remainers will winds the day because he feels the leave campaign is futile and hopeless, they have given up the fight, and that remain points is the input watch more strongly. i'm not quite sure where he is getting any

he is seen as a future leader of the conservative party in the united kingdom, but there are several elements to this story because this is the kicking off of a five—month review for the armed forces of the united kingdom and when that happens, before you get to the cricket, it have to expect the health secretary to come out to bat for the armed forces. there's been a lot commentary from people this week within the armed forces in the uk about where the threats are coming from and why funding is required for armed forces and what kind of funding. yeah, we have heard a lot from the military themselves in the last few weeks, whether it is about people can indications that they might break into, different route. but this too, you look at the headline, russia is ready to kill us by the thousands. most people are going to go really? i also say it really because it was not for president trump and davos and other things, this might have got even more exposed. it was quite sharp intervention by the defence secretary, but now let's look at russia. we have seen over a period of time up chang

the conservative party is known to be all old fogeys. she is putting a new face as chairman of the party. she has populated the role of ,ice-chairman, a lot of young really new lawmakers. represent -- well, they are trying to take a certain path. their ethnicity, their sexuality, their gender, it is an attempt to somehow try to diversity the party away from all old, white men. david: thank you so much, flabby krause-jackson. up next, we will speak with antonio garza, who was the ambassador to mexico. this is bloomberg. ♪ s bloomberg. ♪ retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver. david: this is "bloomberg markets: balance of power." i am david westin. s

then she wants to show a more diverse conservative party to the country. and finally, she wants to respond to the concerns of voters who gave the tories such a bloody nose back in june. the prime minister gave the impression yesterday that she was unable to carve key sections of the joint after cabinet ministers challenged some of her plans. tory mps claim that the reshuffle has exposed grave weaknesses in her operation, though mps now say she did stage a strong recovery today. expectations were far too high on the run in because i always thought it would be a moderate reshuffle, only two or three jobs needed changing. every reshuffle i'd ever seen hits a problem somewhere when administered doesn't want to go somewhere and they want to keep them in the cabinet, which happened here. —— when a minister. suella fernandes, who has coordinated the main backbench brexit group takes her first step on the ministerial ladder in the brexit department. other new ministers include the qc lucy frazer, who becomes a justice minister and a former entrepreneur rishi s

patrick mcloughlin, the conservative party chairman, is to lose his job. you told us that an hour ago. who are the hot favourites to take over? that‘s a very good question. i suspect it will be somebody who mrs may has complete faith in. she has shown herself to be the sort of prime minister who promote those she absolutely trust. it could be somebody like brandon lewis, the immigration minister. he has worked in the home office with her. possibly, we don‘t know. but the fa ct possibly, we don‘t know. but the fact that patrick mcloughlin has been elbowed out of the wake does tell us the story of this reshuffle, which is clearly mrs may wants to get rid of some of those ministers who have been around the block a few times, maybe been in cabinet 115, six yea rs, never times, maybe been in cabinet 115, six years, never reached highest positions. and maybe got as far as they are going to go. patrick mcloughlin, i mean, he‘s been a minister since... the late 1980s, since mrs thatcher. so he really has been here a long time. we can expect some middle ran

. -- labor is now the third-largest party behind the conservatives. westminster once again found itself at the center of scandal as allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior emerged. several found themselves under investigation by their parties or in some cases the police. an early casualty was the defense secretary michael fallon. he quit in november saying that his behavior may have fallen short of the standards expected by the uk military. he called the bbc and said what was acceptable 10 years ago was clearly not acceptable now. the prime minister later announced parliament is to have an independent grievance procedure to deal with complaints about harassment and abuse. the leader explained the next step. >> the new system should provide support advice and action on a wide spectrum of complaints around bullying and harassment. we will do everything in our power to ensure the solution is transparent, fair and effective. >> just before christmas, theresa may suffered another blow when she lost her third cabinet minister within two

young welcome simon so the conservative party heads out of america for the c.d.u. and her horse a half of the say su they're meeting what can we expect to come out of that. well filled the meetings today and they'll be one with martin chills the s.p.d. leader here in a couple of hours time they're really organizational the parties the conservatives here in the social democrats also have been discussing today what their strategy will be going into these full coalition talks and how they're going to deal of course with that major strand of opposition from the social democrat party that we saw yesterday in that very tight vote to proceed so today it's strategic later on it'll be organizational just setting out really the timetable i think we're going to have to be a bit more patient because the social democrats in particular saying they need a little bit of time just to work out what they think they can get out of talks and they might not be ready to do that until wednesday or thursday of this week here social democrats but the party conference they're saying that mr

is you the conservative party bloc of anglo american the c.d.u. c.s.u. and especially the c. is you the small of the two parties is more conservative and they have already pointed out that they want to be more strict on refugee policy that they want to have. less integration into europe on one to cut corporate taxes something especially the social democrats are absolutely opposed to so the social democrats on the other side they are very reluctant to go again into this grand coalition as it is called here in germany as they have been in a grand coalition for the past four years and it didn't serve them at all they also we have to remember made. worst election result in the park city since world war two so they are very reluctant to go into these party talks and then in the end there's chancellor merkel c.d.u. party and that's the only party that has remained calm and during the last weeks they are the only ones that really say yes we want to have this coalition we want we need this prime coalition. seems to be the last chance fungal americal to remain chancellor all right so

the trouble is the conservative party simply cannot agree on what should come beyond. and as talks slowly approach future trade relations, what has so far been a fragile truce among the tories looks rocky. alex forsyth, bbc news, teesside. african migrants in tel aviv and jerusalem have been protesting this week against a government programme designed to remove people who've entered the country illegally. an estimated 40,000 africans there are affected. they've been offered $3,500 cash to leave before march, or face arrest. yolande knell reports from tel aviv. african migrants are angrily protesting outside israel's rwandan embassy. but why? israel has eight controversial plan to force out thousands of illegal african migrants. it will pay $3500 and airfares to anybody who voluntarily goes to a third country, at uganda 01’ goes to a third country, at uganda or rwanda. those who stay after much face arrest. about 40,000 african migrants live here and illegally. most are from sudan and eritrea.|j let my country because there are is no rights for human beings there. i h

the new conservative party chairman, brandon lewis, has told the bbc that the government is doing everything it can to make sure the serial sex offender, john worboys, "stays behind bars". the government is considering applying forjudicial review of the parole board decision that worboys should be released soon, after nine years in jail. i've been speaking to human rights barrister, hugh southey, about the potential challenges they face. one of the difficulties, as an interested member of the public, because the parole board decision is private, it is impossible to know whether or not there is ground for challenging it. from the details that we know, what do you think? well... from the details we know, i think it is impossible to know, because he was sentenced, obviously, ten years ago, on the basis he posed a risk at that stage. ten years is in principle long enough to allow someone to reform. we just don't know, as members of the public, whether that material was before the rural board, material was before the rural board, material showing he had reformed. —— pa role material showing h

the conservative party has become somewhat left of centre. the punishment is there. they scored 33% in the election. they are about to disappear, already down to 20. latest polls say they are sinking evermore. the country is at a standstill, politically. it seems that there's nobody left to want to govern germany ina sense. on the other hand, she is being administered perfectly well. the economy is growing and expanding. people don't feel the absence of a government in their daily lives at all. which is probably an indictment against, why do we need politicians in the first place when the administrators are doing the job so well for themselves? schools are being taught, taxes are being collected. and all the other efficiencies that modern states have are in place. it is a profit warning. germany is needed for future decisions to be taken about europe. france wants germany to be there. what you need, really, is a very strong germany for europe. at the moment, emmanuel macron is taking all of the weight of europe because he is saying we need to speed... but europe does

use that the very insistent party to merkel's c.d.u. conservatives and s.p.d. of course remember they actually said that they wouldn't form another grand coalition with merkel's conservatives and so they really have to work over these during these exploratory talks also convince their own delegates and party members that a grand coalition would be the right move for the s.p. day so they're putting demands on the table such as higher taxes for the wealthy they want more integration into europe and they also want more liberal refugee policy and these are all demands which a quite the opposite what the c.s.u. are demand and one of the most contentious issues between those two parties is certainly going to be that refugee policy as that's something that the c.s.u. really want to take a tougher stance on particularly when it comes to family reunions of refugees would you say that this is merkel's last chance to form a stable government but it certainly had a last chance to form a government that would have a clear majority in parliament if these exploratory talks do

the trouble is the conservative party simply cannot agree on what should come beyond. and as talks slowly approach future trade relations, what has so far been a fragile truce among the tories looks rocky. alex forsyth, bbc news, teesside. the uk economy grew faster than expected in the last three months of 2017, according to new figures. the office for national statistics said it grew by 0.5% instead of the expected 0.4%. but economic growth for the whole of last year was the slowest since 2012. 0ur economics editor kamal ahmed reports. building a stronger economy. global growth in china lifting businesses like this one in oxfordshire, making health equipment for export. it's been a challenge. it took about three or four years for us to gain approval for us to sell into in china, but with a bit of patience and dedication we've now got those approvals, and we are seeing that uplift in business now that were able to expand into the market the size of china. speeding around the world economic forum in davos, the chancellor, selling britain abroad. 0ur export markets are

the argument today from many people in the conservative party who are pro—remain and the labour party who are pro—remain as well as independent observers, is a feeling that if the public opinion would fundamentally shift during the course of 2018 then there would be legitimate grounds for a second vote. do you accept that? i don't believe there would be. i must say that when a government sent out a message, paid for by the taxpayer, to every individual and says this is your decision and we will abide by it, i think that the country must abide by it. as a democrat, doesn't worry you that yougov which has been tracking opinion ever since the referendum, has found recently a consistent feeling among the british public who say they would prefer britain to remain and not leave. there are many different polls on that but i am not going into them. i don't enter into the argument about the referendum. that decision has been taken by the people. there is a legitimate argument about how we negotiate and what position we adopt but the decision is taken. it's the result of a long change. this h

brandon lewis is the conservative party chairman. star under 40 becomes the conservative party vice chair. josh join us is the chief. -- joining this is the london bureau chief. >> they are all still in their jobs. boris johnson is awaiting confirmation. his last of those for to be confirmed. we will wait for that. her, the mainoned thrust of this is about bringing in new blood, bringing in a more diverse and dynamic slate of mps. this partyg to be in role as a vice chairman of the party. they've got night of those. this is part of theresa may grabbing some turf. we can do diversity, we can reach out to the youth. we can capture some of those votes. we are thinking about this through the lens of brexit. that is what counts with the economy. it's not clear yet how she is managing that balance. mark: the northern island secretary is leaving for health reasons. for has had an effect brexit and the relationship with the party that is propping up the conservatives. >> this resignation, he is the northern island secretary. he had a crucial