21/12/2017 Breakfast

Hello, this is Breakfast,

with Naga Munchetty and Charlie

Stayt.

Damian Green, one of Theresa May's

closest allies, has been sacked

from the Cabinet.

An inquiry found he had made

misleading statements

about pornography found

on a computer in his office.

Good morning, it is

Thursday 21 December.

Also this morning: More than 60,000

mothers and babies have been harmed

in incidents in maternity units

in England over the past two years.

Later this morning, creditors

and lenders are voting on a plan

to save the UK's

biggest toy retailer.

I am taking a look at why

the toy business is facing

so many challenges.

In sport: A massive shock

in the League Cup, as holders

Manchester United are knocked

out by Bristol City.

An injury-time winner sends

the Championship side

through to the semi-finals.

And Carol is here in

the studio with the weather.

Good morning. It is a fairly cloudy

start to the day for many parts of

the UK. It is mild as well, drizzly

conditions and patchy fog. In

Scotland, something brighter but it

is cooler. I will have more details

on 15 minutes. -- in 15 minutes.

Good morning.

First our main story: Damian Green,

one of Theresa May's closest allies,

has been sacked from the Cabinet

after an inquiry found he had

breached the ministerial code.

He was asked to quit

after he was found to have made

inaccurate and

misleading statements.

It was in relation to what he knew

about claims that pornography

was found on his office

computer in 2008.

Our political correspondent

Alex Forsyth reports.

Side-by-side yesterday,

the Prime Minister and her close

ally Damian Green, her

deputy in all but name.

But, hours after they sat

together in the Commons,

he was sacked.

It stems back to this police raid

on Mr Green's Parliamentary offices

nine years ago.

Officers said legal pornography

was found on computers.

Mr Green has always

and still denies it was his,

but he also said he hadn't been told

about it, and that wasn't right.

He has now admitted police lawyers

talked to his lawyers in 2008,

and police raised it

with him in 2013,

and he said...

It is that breach of the ministerial

code that cost him his job.

There were also claims from this

Tory activist about inappropriate

behaviour by Mr Green.

Her account was said to be

plausible, but there was no clear

conclusion

about what had happened.

Mr Green apologised for making

her feel uncomfortable,

but denied wrongdoing.

In a letter to Mr Green,

Theresa May said she was extremely

sad at having to write

regarding his resignation.

She has lost a long-term

friend and confidant

from her Cabinet table.

But some said her decision

showed strength.

I don't think it's damaging

to the Prime Minister

at all, really, because she's

made the decision.

It says something, that

even if somebody is a close ally,

she's prepared to make a decision

and urge him to take the decision

himself, to step down.

And, in doing that,

I have to say that

that shows that she's not prepared

to cover for somebody if she feels

that they didn't answer

the questions they should have done.

Nonetheless, the Prime Minister

will no doubt feel the loss of such

a trusted ally from her top team.

Our political correspondent Ben

Wright is in Westminster for us.

Now, this was a close ally of

Theresa May, and we also saw many

senior Conservatives rally around

Damian Green in the run-up to this.

Yes, including Cabinet ministers

like David Davis, who are quite

clear that he did not think Damian

Green should go. But I think the

damage to the government is limited,

and I think the damage to Theresa

May is limited as well. And I think

you can separate the political and

personal here. Personally this is a

big blow to Theresa May. Damian

Green was one of her oldest friends

in politics. They go back to their

time as students together in Oxford,

they followed each other's career is

over the decades. She brought him

back as Deputy Prime Minister last

year and he was quietly one of the

most important Cabinet ministers she

had, sitting on all the key

committees at the heart of

decision-making. He did not have a

high public profile but behind the

scenes very important. So a

confidant, an ally, she will be very

sorry to have lost him. She said in

a letter she deeply regretted him

going. Politically, though, I think

this will all be blowing over very

quickly. I think he broke the rules,

that is clear. The report is quite

clear about that. Theresa May has

proven her resilience over the last

few months. This is the third

Cabinet Minister she has lost in a

couple of months. She botched the

election, of course, she had a

terrible conference, and yet she

powers on. The way she has dealt

with this will probably add to the

sense that she is a resilient prime

minister who is not going anywhere

at all. So I think the political

damage is limited.

On cue very much,

we will speak to you later. -- thank

you very much.

Tens of thousands of mothers

and babies in England have been

harmed when receiving maternity care

over the last two years.

More than 250,000 incidents

were reported by hospital staff

to the health regulator,

NHS Improvement.

Most were minor, but almost

a quarter of the incidents led

to the mother or baby being harmed.

Our health correspondent

Adina Campbell reports.

Wendy and Ryan from East Sussex

lost their baby daughter

three years ago.

She was stillborn.

An NHS investigation found some

maternity guidelines

were not followed.

Leaving the hospital

with a box of things,

instead of your baby, was just...

Having to leave her there -

going home and leaving your baby

there - you just

can't comprehend it.

It was here at this hospital

where Wendy was cared for.

Despite telling staff that she had

concerns about her baby's movements,

she was sent home on two

different occasions.

Figures seen by the BBC show

there were more than 275,000

maternity care incidents reported

voluntarily by concerned staff

in England over the last two years.

The problems included women

being told to stay at home,

babies being left brain-damaged,

and potentially avoidable deaths.

Just over three quarters

of the incidents reported did not

cause any harm to mother or baby,

but more than 60,000 did.

Something the Government says

it is hoping to reduce under

new plans announced last month.

We want to be the safest and best

maternity system in the world.

The vast majority of births

are completely safe.

But what's going wrong

at the moment is that,

when we have a tragedy,

we're not learning from it nearly

as

effectively as we should.

East Sussex Healthcare Trust says

they have apologised to Wendy

and Ryan, and admitted some aspects

of their service did not

meet their usual standards.

Opinion polls in Catalonia suggests

pro and anti- independence parties

are running neck and neck.

South Korea says its soldiers have

fired around 20 warning shots

at North Korean troops who had

approached the border

between the two countries.

The defence ministry in Seoul said

the North Koreans appeared to be

searching for one of their soldiers,

who had earlier taken advantage

of thick fog to cross the border

and defect to the South.

A poll carried out for the BBC

suggests that almost one in ten

young people across the UK have

spent at least a month sofa-surfing

because they have

nowhere else to go.

The most common reasons included

family issues and domestic violence.

The Government says it is providing

over £1 billion of funding before

2020 to reduce all

forms of homelessness.

There is a widening regional divide

in access to high-performing

secondary schools in England.

The think tank the Education Policy

Institute says families living

in London have a growing chance

of living near a good secondary

school, while people in parts

of the north and north-east

are increasingly unlikely to have

such good schools available.

The Government says it is investing

£280,000 in disadvantaged areas.

Richard Lister reports.

It is no secret that way you live

can have a big impact on your life

chances. But this new report says

regional differences in education

are getting bigger. The new study

looks at secondary schools ranked in

the top third for how much progress

their pupils make before they leave.

It found that, of the top 20 such

schools, 16 are in London, while

high performing schools in the north

and the Midlands are getting fewer,

with children in Blackpool and

Hartlepool having the worst access

to high performing schools. One of

the biggest issues is retaining

high-quality teachers in schools

with problems. It is easier for

better schools to recruit better

teachers.

London has been

particularly successful in doing

that, and that has contributed to

its success over the last few years,

whereas parts of the North have been

less successful at in doing that.

The Education Secretary, here

visiting her old school in

Rotherham, has already announced

more focused investment in areas

with particular problems. But the

Education Policy Institute says some

of the places with the fewest high

performing schools aren't getting

the help they need. It says the

government must find new ways to

bring good schools to all

communities.

A baby has been born from an embryo

which was frozen nearly

25 years ago.

Baby Emma was conceived in October

1992, just a year and half

after her mum's own birth.

Health officials believe

it is the longest gap

between conception and

birth since IVF began.

Andrew Plant explains.

Preparing for Christmas

in eastern Tennessee,

but this year, Tina

and Ben Gibson have already got

the gift they wanted.

Seriously, in the middle

of the night, we'll wake up and just

look at her, and we're

like "Can you believe it?

Like, she's really ours."

Emma Gibson, born from an embryo

frozen 25 years ago.

I never thought that I'd be able,

you know, to have a pregnancy

and have a baby.

It's like, oh, my gosh.

Such a miracle, you know -

such a sweet, sweet miracle.

Mum Tina, is only 26 years old,

which means she and her son

were conceived within a few

months of each other.

She and Ben cannot

give birth naturally,

so the National Embryo Donation

Centre provided them with an embryo

which had been frozen in storage

for a quarter of a century.

If this embryo was born

when it was supposed to be,

like, we could have

been best friends.

We could have been friends.

He just thought that was so funny,

so that's been the going joke.

It's so crazy.

The embryo was donated 25 years ago,

by an anonymous family,

and kept

in carefully controlled conditions.

Emma won't be genetically

related to her parents,

but has become their first

child and, it is thought,

a record-breaking baby, too.

She was chosen for us.

They're called snow-babies,

because of how long

they're kept frozen.

Finally, though, she is nice

and warm, and delivered in time

for her very first Christmas.

Andrew Plant, BBC News.

The council car park in Leicester,

where the body of Richard III

was unearthed five years ago,

has been protected as a nationally

important archaeological site.

Historians hope "scheduled monument"

status will help preserve any buried

artefacts, as permission will now be

needed before any work can be done

or changes made.

You never know what might be found

next.

You never know. Some great

upsets yesterday. Is this the

Caribou Cup?

We still call it the

League Cup, because that is what it

is known as. The FA Cup is known for

its upsets but it does happen in

other competitions as well, as

Bristol City proved last night. We

were saying yesterday that the

manager had bought this expensive

bottle of wine to share with Jose

Mourinho after the game. I think he

expected to be conceding defeat but

he probably cracked it open with his

players after the game. It was such

a shock, and in injury time when

could not have been more dramatic.

-- injury time winner.

Manchester United were knocked out

by Championship side Bristol City.

Korey Smith scored the injury-time

winner that made it 2-1 and sent

City through to the semi-finals,

where they will face Manchester

City.

Chelsea will play Arsenal,

after beating Bournemouth.

Paul Clement has been sacked

as manager of Swansea City.

He becomes the sixth Premier League

manager to be dismissed this season.

The club is currently

bottom of the table,

having won just three

times this season.

Birmingham will be confirmed

as the host city of the 2022

Commonwealth Games today.

Their bid is finally set to be

approved, giving the go-ahead

for the £750 million event.

And Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi

is free to play against Saracens

on Christmas Eve, after his citing

for a dangerous tackle

against Munster at the

weekend was dismissed.

And that is all the sport. I will be

talking about some of the headlines

in the papers in a minute, because

the headline writers have had an

absolute field day with Bristol

City's win over Manchester.

You had

a good one as well.

Charlie had a

good one as well, he was going Korey

glory, Gorey, story...

I was just

saying anything that rhymes with

Korey.

Carol-y.

A bit of a tenuous

link.

What I am best that. It is

lovely to have you in the studio.

Mild in England, Wales, and Northern

Ireland. That is courtesy of this

weather front. That is pushing

north-east. It is producing drizzly

conditions. Murky behind it in

south-west England. Low cloud and

patchy fog. Look at the

temperatures. Ten and 11. That is

what we normally expect in the

afternoon. The weather front is

draped across East Anglia, the

Midlands, with drizzly outbreaks of

rain. It will be O'Brien start under

clear skies when the sun comes up.

--A bright. Northern Ireland, cloud

building. The far north seeing

something more bright. The other

side of the front in Wales, cloudy

and murky. Low cloud and patchy fog.

Through the day, you can see the

weather front. Moving slowly.

Eventually going through part of

north-west England, Northern

Ireland, the Isle of Man, south-west

Scotland. Ahead of that, much of

Scotland, especially the east, and

the Pennines, sunny spells.

Temperatures, a little bit lower.

Sunshine compensating. Through the

evening and overnight period, again,

we have the weather front. Still

producing outbreaks of rain. Through

the course of the night, another one

coming from the west. In between,

cloud. A fairly mild night. Not as

mild as the one just gone. Ahead of

that, under clear skies, it will

feel nippy. Two degrees in Aberdeen.

Friday, we have a weather front

coming from the in west stretching

across the Channel Islands in the

south-west England. We also have a

ridge of high pressure. Things are

more settled. Still cloud the

further east you are. The shelter of

the hills in Scotland, the Pennines,

for example, a little bit of

sunshine. Temperatures, six in

Aberdeen and 12 in the south-west.

Saturday, a lot of dry weather. A

lot of cloud as well. Light breaks.

Rain coming in as another weather

front advances into the north-west.

Sunday, a breezy day. Noticeably so.

Cloud. Rain coming in. Sunday,

Christmas Eve. For the run-up to

Christmas, it generally mild. Cloudy

with rain in the north. If you want

a white Christmas, you have to go to

Scotland. That is how it is looking

at the moment.

It is always warm and

wet on Christmas!

Many people are

travelling to see families at that

time. At least apart from the hills

of Scotland, they can get around.

It

was Christmas ten years ago when

London was snowed in. There was a

time! Flights cancelled out of

Heathrow. I remember read. Nine or

ten years ago.

Did it affect you?

I

always am affected by it.

You're watching

Breakfast from BBC News.

The main stories this morning:

Theresa May has sacked her deputy,

Damien Green, for making misleading

statements about pornography found

on a computer in his office.

Tens of thousands of mothers

and babies have been harmed

Tens of thousands of mothers

and babies have been harmed

by lapses in maternity care

over the past two years,

according to figures

seen by the BBC.

A look at the papers. One story is

dominating the news we talked about

a second ago. The front page of The

Daily Telegraph. Damien Green

sacked. A close friend, colleagues,

for many years. Just going through

some of the details. The first

secretary admits lying about porn.

The Cabinet hit by the third

departure in months.

Many people are

talking about Theresa May and losing

friends. He said he was forced out.

The Prime Minister is serious at the

Commons raid and police links that

led to his downfall. The Daily Mail

says it is a sad time for him to

make politics.

That story on the

front page of the Times newspaper as

well. Damien Green forced out over a

computer porn cover-up. Many double

pages. A lot of attention to it. Of

course, the story has been rumbling

for a long time pending the results

of this investigation. They are

printing full statements from both

the Prime Minister and Damien Green.

You have some fun use.

Well, great

pictures. -- news. Manchester City

being beaten by Bristol City last

night. Korey Smith scored the injury

time when completely mobbed by his

teammates and fans who jumped out of

the crowd as well to help celebrate

with him. A lot of good headline

writing. Korey, Kore, Hallelujah.

Bristol City and Manchester City,

comparing how much the teams cost.

That has to sting for Jose Mourinho.

11 of them, 11 of us. That is how it

is on the pitch. Anything can

happen.

90 minutes and a few extra

for injury time.

He was playing

next?

Manchester City! They have

already done away with Manchester

United. The next is Manchester City.

A massive run of games for Bristol

City. Quite worrying news for tennis

fans actually, in many papers today.

The Daily Telegraph. They are

worried about Andy Murray's

comeback. He missed out because of a

hip injury last season. He is back

in training. He is hoping to play in

Brisbane in ten days' time. Many

people saying there is a question

mark over how his recovery is going

because he was supposed to spend

Christmas in Australia with his

family to prepare and acclimatise

and go to Miami as well. He does

training in Miami. But he is

training at Wimbledon at the all

England club.

He follows the

calendar. It just rolls around.

Tennis is the beginning of the year.

How are you start in January is

telling.

And how you train over

Christmas. They do know get much

Christmas. -- not get. Andy Murray

has not travelled and is still time

at the club preparing.

On the theme

of people still being able to do

what they used to do, if you can see

the link, 88-year-old Betty, the

oldest paper girl in Britain.

Hanging up her bag at 88. She has

apparently clocked 100,000 miles

delivering the paper. A wonderful

achievement. She has an MBE,

actually. She took over the paper

out from her teenage daughter back

in 1976. -- route. She had a double

hip replacement, the only time she

missed out briefly.

Impressive.

A

super ager. Do you remember when we

were talking about people who dress

and buy presents for their dogs? We

have had a few pictures. I don't

know if this was made for the dogs,

but that is it right there! Hark The

Herald Mongrels Sing! They did not

look especially happy.

Bless them.

Why they looking for new homes this

Christmas?

I don't think so.

Perhaps

you have read into the story. We

will check. Thank you. We will see

you later. Shall we stick with

festive themes?

'Tis the season to be jolly,

but not everyone is full

of festive cheer.

We sent out our giant BBC

Breakfast Bauble to find out

people's views on the best

and worst bits of Christmas.

How we seen that yet? Has it been

seen by anyone yet? The giant BBC

Breakfast decoration? Can you see

it? It has been out and about. We

have been asking about the best and

worst of Christmas.

My favourite thing about Christmas

is probably all the decorations,

light, trees, the cosy feeling you

get.

I love my four children's faces

on Christmas morning.

The mixture of

everything going on. Even if you

don't want to get involved, you have

to get involved. That's Christmas.

My favourite thing about Christmas

is the German markets that we have

got around here now.

People you have

not spoken to in ages suddenly get

back in contact.

We love it. The

most irritating thing about

Christmas is how cold it is. I don't

like the calls at all. When people

wish for a white Christmas, I get

angry.

I don't like having to wait

so long for Christmas.

Why does it

have to be Turkey? One fish, lamb?

Everything is half price.

You have

to think about friends and family

who are homeless, people who are

disadvantaged.

We wish you a Merry

Christmas!

We wish you a Merry

Christmas!

We wish you a Merry

Christmas!

And a happy new Year. .

-- New Year.

If you want to see how big it is,

there it is! It is huge.

It is

making the tree feel rather in

adequate.

Just checking the

construction quality.

It is firm.

There are bits falling off of it.

Careful.

I can tell you that a

little later on in the programme we

are going to talk about the toy

market, and the issue with Toys R

Us. Ben is out and about and Carol

is finally back in the studio. I

will give that to you. It is time to

get the

in half an hour.

Plenty more on our website

at the usual address.

Now, though, it's back to Breakfast.

Hello, this is Breakfast,

with Naga Munchetty and Charlie

Stayt.

It is 6:30am.

We will bring you all the latest

news and sport in a moment.

But also on Breakfast this morning:

How watching this saved

a man's life.

Also this morning: Christmas

might be a time to eat,

drink and be merry,

but there is a warning

about what we feed to our pets

over the festive period.

And betrayal, fear and

a mysterious doll's house.

We will speak to one of the stars

of the BBC's adaptation

of bestselling novel

The Miniaturist.

Good morning.

Here is a summary of this morning's

main stories from BBC News.

Damian Green, one of Theresa May's

closest allies, has been sacked

from the Cabinet, after an inquiry

found he had breached

the ministerial code.

He was asked to quit

after he was found to have made

inaccurate and

misleading statements.

Mr Green has always denied

downloading or viewing pornography,

but has now admitted he should have

been clear that police had spoken

to him and his lawyers

about the material.

He also apologised for making

writer Kate Maltby feel

uncomfortable in 2015.

The former Conservative leader

Ian Duncan Smith said

the Prime Minister's actions show

she is a strong leader.

Side-by-side yesterday,

the Prime Minister and her close

ally Damian Green, her

deputy in all but name.

But, hours after they sat

together in the Commons,

he was sacked.

It stems back to this police raid

on Mr Green's Parliamentary offices

nine years ago.

Officers said legal pornography

was found on computers.

Mr Green has always and still denies

that it was his, but he also said

he hadn't been told about it,

and that wasn't right.

He has now admitted police lawyers

talked to his lawyers in 2008,

and police raised it with him

in 2013, and he said...

It is that breach of the ministerial

code that cost him his job.

There were also claims from this

Tory activist about inappropriate

behaviour by Mr Green.

Her account was said to be

plausible, but there was no clear

conclusion about what had happened.

Mr Green apologised for making

her feel uncomfortable,

but denied wrongdoing.

In a letter to Mr Green,

Theresa May said she was extremely

sad at having to write

regarding his resignation.

She has lost a long-term

friend and confidant

from her Cabinet table.

But some said her decision

showed strength.

I don't think it's damaging

to the Prime Minister at all,

really, because she's

made the decision.

You know, it says something

about her that, even if somebody

is a close ally,

she's prepared to make a decision

and urge him to take the decision

himself, to step down.

And, in doing that, I have to say

that that shows that she's not

prepared to cover for somebody

if she feels that they didn't answer

the questions they should have done.

Nonetheless, the Prime Minister

will no doubt feel the loss of such

a trusted ally from her top team.

Tens of thousands of mothers

and babies in England have been

harmed when receiving maternity care

over the last two years.

Records seen by the BBC News show

more than 250,000 incidents

were reported by hospital staff

to the health regulator, NHS

Improvement.

Most were minor, but almost

a quarter led to the mother

or baby being harmed.

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt,

says the vast majority of births

are completely safe,

but there is still work to be done.

We want to be the safest and best

maternity system in the world.

The vast majority of births

are completely safe.

But what's going wrong

at the moment is that,

when we have a tragedy,

we're not learning from it nearly

as effectively as we should.

The people of Catalonia will elect

a new regional parliament today.

The Spanish government dissolved

the previous administration after it

organised a referendum

and declared independence.

Opinion polls suggest that pro

and anti-independence parties

are running neck-and-neck.

South Korea says its soldiers have

fired around 20 warning shots

at North Korean troops who had

approached the border

between the two countries.

The defence ministry in Seoul said

the North Koreans appeared to be

searching for one of their soldiers,

who had earlier taken advantage

of thick fog to cross the border

and defect to the South.

There is a widening regional divide

in access to high-performing

secondary schools in England.

The think tank the Education Policy

Institute says families living

in London have a growing chance

of living near a good secondary

school, while people in parts

of the north and north-east

are increasingly unlikely to have

such good schools available.

The Government says it is investing

in disadvantaged areas.

A baby has been born from an embryo

which was frozen nearly

25 years ago.

It was donated by

a family in the US.

Baby Emma was conceived in October

1992, a year and half

after her mum's own birth.

Health officials believe

it is the longest gap

between conception and

birth since IVF began.

The council car park in Leicester

where the body of Richard III

was unearthed five years ago has

been protected as a nationally

important archaeological site.

Historians hope "scheduled monument"

status will help preserve any buried

artefacts, as permission will now be

needed before any work can be done

or changes made.

In the sport this morning, the story

of an upset.

A massive upset in the

League Cup. Excuse me, a permanent

frog in my throat. Bristol City

beating Manchester United, holders

of the League Cup at the moment,

knocked out by championship side

Bristol City in injury time, so

right at the death of the game.

Manchester United did not put out an

easy side, either. They did play a

string of second level players,

perhaps, not all of their first team

squad, but Ibrahimovich, Martial,

Pogba was there. They can say that

they beat Ibrahimovic, not many can

say that.

Alex Gulrajani reports.

A chance to bend the year of the

special one and try and find that

little edge. Mourinho was not

feeling very generous. Despite ten

changes, Ibrahimovic was back

alongside Marcus ration. The hopes

for the evening were finding their

range as well, but nothing seemed to

worry Mourinho for now. That soon

changed after the break, Joe

O'Brien, a Bristol boy born and

bred, did something spectacular. The

championship side holding their own

-- Joe Bryan. That man, Ibrahimovic,

could not be held back for long,

United level and now searching for a

winner. Lukaku denied twice, and

maybe now Mourinho was nervous. And

he had good reason to be. Korey

Smith with a last-minute matchwinner

for Bristol City.

I love the way Lee Johnson

celebrates with that ball boy.

The other semi-final

will be a London derby,

Chelsea against Arsenal,

after Chelsea beat Bournemouth 2-1

thanks to Alvaro Morata's

injury-time winner.

Swansea City have sacked

manager Paul Clement.

He only joined the club

at the turn of the year,

and helped keep them up last season.

But he leaves them at the bottom

of the table, with just three wins

in 18 games.

He is the sixth Premier League

manager to be sacked this season.

Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi

is free to play against Saracens

on Christmas Eve, after his citing

for a dangerous tackle

against Munster at the

weekend was dismissed.

Tuilagi was cited for a high tackle

on Munster's Chris Klute

during their European Cup defeat,

but the disciplinary committee

didn't think it

warranted a red card.

Birmingham will be confirmed

as the host city for the 2022

Commonwealth Games today.

Their bid has finally been accepted,

after guarantees were given

over the finances.

And, with an estimated budget

of around £750 million,

it will be the most expensive sports

event held in this country

since London 2012.

Yesterday we were talking about a

return to tennis after a series of

injuries, and she has spoken about

her return at the age of 33. She

says it is not too old to make a

comeback, and she has been taking

inspiration from the Williams

sisters.

I think I am definitely not too old

for that. I think 33 is an age you

can still perform on the tennis

court. I adore every single time I

am on the court and I can practice

and feel like a complete better

every day. See my improvements. I

love the time in the gym, to get

fitter, stronger and faster. I know

I still have a long way to go, but I

am very excited about it.

Tennis is an old person's sport at

the moment, isn't it? You have the

Williams sisters at the top of their

game, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

in the men's game, being in your 30s

is not a disadvantage.

It is the hidden side

of homelessness - people

who are forced to sleep

on friends' sofas, floors,

or in their spare rooms.

Now, a poll conducted by ComRes

for the BBC gives an insight

into the extent of the problem.

It found almost one in ten young

people across the UK have spent

at least a month sofa-surfing.

Brookemorgan Henry-Rennie

became homeless at 15,

and Lord Bird is the founder

of The Big Issue.

Good morning to you both. Tell us

what happened to you, because at 15

new left home.

Yes, so we had a

sudden death in our family. My uncle

passed away, and that was my mum's

first baby, so that hit her hard. My

mum has always been my best friend,

and she is to this day, but that

event led into a downward spiral of

depression, and that was cool, but I

didn't know what that was at the

time. I can only look back and say

it was that. And I kind of picked it

up. I knew how to cook and clean and

had a great upbringing, and I kind

of just ran the household, and that

was cool for about three months but

shortly thereafter I started to

mimic her behaviour and became very

depressed myself, going from a

happy-go-lucky young person at

school, always wanting to interact

with everyone, to quite a closed off

and reserved person, and didn't want

to interact with anyone.

What was

happening in terms of where you are

living, and how was that playing

out?

So I was living at my mum's.

And that wasn't working, because we

were both really bad in terms of our

mental health, and then I went to

stay with my Nan, and that wasn't

working, but she had a lovely home,

and always food, and always lovely.

But it was what was going on in my

mind, and after that I bounced

around between family and friends

and things like that, and then my

school intervened.

Your school got

in touch.

My behaviour was just

playing out and just wasn't normal,

so they contacted my local

authorities and social services, and

they kind of did an investigation,

and it turned out that where my

mental health was at, it was just

best that I was away from home.

And

John, what we know now, you can see

this path is so commonplace. It is

not a traditional idea of

homelessness, seeing someone on the

street, necessarily, but people in

quite dire circumstances

nonetheless.

What is so interesting

in this case is that you have got a

young person who has got everything

going for them, having some family

problems, which will then morph into

where am I going, what am I doing,

and it will lead to the fact that

you have to intervene. You know, The

Big Issue intervenes, people like

Centrepoint intervenes, and it is

not available to young people in the

NHS, so we have to have these

organisations like Centrepoint, like

The Big Issue, who intervened. If

you actually listen to the kind of

stories that I hear, sofa surfing,

people just kind of getting by, can

lead to a very steady decline into

the streets. And that is the one

thing we have got to prevent. If you

end up on the streets you will get

serious mental health problems, you

will get serious physical health

problems, and this is why it is so

important that, over the next year,

we don't replicate this problem that

we have got now, this time next

year.

Which are the bodies which

need to be intervening? Because we

heard in Brookemorgan's case that

her school knew the system is to go

through. But it is not always that

easy to spot, is it? Because if

people are sofa surfing, they don't

always talk about it. You still have

your clothes, you still look OK, I

assume you are still trying to

function physically at least.

Well,

Brookemorgan is a wonderful case

where a school does look after you.

Because the school has got to be

there, they have to be a bit of a

mum and dad, they have to have their

eyes and ears open. Unfortunately a

lot of schools are so busy rushing

around, cuts to the budget, cuts to

the budget really destroy social

opportunities, and Brookemorgan has

been really, really lifted by that

opportunity. But the unfortunate

thing is that then Centrepoint never

gets enough money to do the work. We

need more organisations like The Big

Issue, but really what we need is a

government which is making up its

mind to invest in stopping people

slipping into homelessness.

The government has promised money.

Is it not enough? Not well-placed?

It is how you use your money. I

think the real problem, I am sorry

to talk about it like this, you have

to start preventing people slipping

down. Brooke Morgan is a clear

demonstration of what is happening

because the help should have been

further upstream, not when she was

12- 11. There should be some care

offered to her and her family. They

need to sort out the problems.

Otherwise it becomes an emergency

when it moves on to the likes of us.

With her, is there a man and when

you felt like things were changing?

A turning point moment? Was it

gradual?

It was a gradual process.

Once I got to centrepoint, I got my

teeth into all of the opportunities.

I went down my first day and said I

am Brooke Morgan, a singer,

songwriter. You have to grasp

opportunities they provide,

employment services, learning

services, and many people do not

understand how to take

opportunities. The ones that do

benefit from it. Centrepoint offers

so much support.

Time is up, but you

are doing so well. Thank you, both

of you.

You're watching

Breakfast from BBC News.

The main stories this morning:

Theresa May has sacked her deputy,

Damien Green, for making misleading

comments about pornography found on

his computer.

Tens of thousands of mothers

and babies have been harmed

by lapses in maternity care

over the past two years,

according to figures

seen by the BBC.

Good morning. It is nice to be in

the studio.

It is lovely to have you

with us.

It was cold and raining

yesterday.

You are looking

nonplussed.

Yeah.

yesterday.

You are looking

nonplussed.

Yeah.

Today, it is a

cloudy and mild day.

For some of us,

a damp day. Drizzly rain at the

moment courtesy of a weather front.

That weather front is going

north-east through the day. At the

moment, a lot of cloud and let.

Patchy fog in south-west England.

Southern counties, generally. Then

parts of Wales, we get back into the

weather front, producing drizzly

outbreaks of rain. The same in

northern England. We had it

yesterday and have it again this

morning. North of that in Scotland,

when the sun gets up, sunshine. Nice

and bright. Cool, especially in the

glands. Showers in the north and

north-west. -- glens. Far north of

Northern Ireland, sunshine. Back in

Wales, the other side of the front,

cloudy. Low cloud and patchy flog.

You can see a distinctive arc. Some

breaks in the shelter of the hills,

especially in north-east England and

east Scotland, with lower

temperatures, but sunshine. With

thicker cloud, 11-12. In the evening

and overnight, the weather front

continues to push very slowly

north-east. Then another one comes

in to join in this party coming from

the south-west. In between, a lot of

cloud. Breaks as well.

Temperature-wise, a little bit lower

than we have had this morning, but

nonetheless predicted for this time

of year. More cool as we go further

north. -- pretty good. A cloudy and

damp note on Friday. Murky

conditions around that. A ridge of

high pressure moves across, settling

things. Low cloud around. One or two

showers in the west. The driest and

brightest conditions in the east.

Temperatures are lower. Temperatures

are good for this stage in December.

Saturday, a lot of dry weather, a

lot of cloud. A change in the

weather front in the north-west.

That introduces rain and breezy

conditions. Look at the

temperatures. 14 degrees in

Aberdeen. Good for December.

Christmas Eve itself, dry weather

across much of England and Wales. A

weather front sinking slowly south.

Once again, it will be fairly

breezy.

At least not as cold as

usual.

Thank you.

For many, Christmas would not be the

same without carols.

Cathedrals

often practised before and

after-school continuing a

centuries-old tradition.

One, two, three, go.

As children

have here for hundreds of years,

Bristol cathedral's young orchestra

is performing their first practice

of the day.

Sometimes I have to

cancel plans, but my friends are

understanding of it. If I have

choir, I plan around it. You get a

real opportunity to go on tour to

different countries. It is really

amazing.

It is quite time-consuming,

but you are always with friends, and

I really like it. There is a really

nice atmosphere. And, yeah, it is

really nice.

They attend lessons

along with everyone else. They sing

before and after school, and in the

cathedral on all the net weekends.

It is a busy life. -- alternate. It

is good to switch off.

It is good to

go into a past world. They have high

expectations put on them. Adults and

children are in the choir and

everyone operates to the same level.

#O come all ye faithful...

In

between rehearsals for the royal

opera, the composer and singer,

Roderick Williams, tells us why

choirs still lead the globe from

London.

Around the world, exciting

things happen. In Bristol, we look

at that and say I can see what you

are doing and we can do that as well

be perhaps not do the same degree,

but we can turn our hand to film

music, gospel, something more

traditional We can do a bit of

everything.

Back at Bristol

cathedral Choir School, a state

academy, they encourage as many

students to sing as possible.

Hundreds of sing at the school. When

people sing together, they breathe

together, sing together, put amazing

performances together. We see

significant results in the wider

community and in the character of

young people.

And it takes some

character and commitment to singing

while juggling sports, lessons,

clubs, friends, and of course, being

a teenager. By the Mr Williams says

they are learning valuable lessons.

-- but.

In these days where people

are retreating into their phones,

they are sharing something that does

not need plugging in, that his life,

we do it ourselves.

-- that is live.

That they are paid, but their reward

really comes in the joy they

received and give from creating such

a beautiful noise. Don Maguire, BBC

News, Bristol. -- John.

We are looking at the toy market.

There have been some problems. Here

are the details.

Creditors and lenders will vote

on plans to save the UK's biggest

toy store later this morning but how

are other retailers faring?

The idea of the CVA they are

discussing is they will get a

lifeline. If they do not get that,

it could mean the closure of all

stores in the UK. They are proposing

to close a number of them, 500 jobs

at risk while they tried to get the

business back on track. Why is

business, Christmas not being a gift

for toy stores as usual? Good

morning. You have had a good run of

late. You are doing well right now.

But it is tough right now in toy

retail.

It is. The last six weeks

have been tough. We are trending 9%

down. People are leaving it late

before Christmas.

You have been

doing this for a long time. It has

been a tough year in particular. Put

this in context for us this year.

We

have sold toys for 36 years. We now

have 149 shops. But this year has

been later and later. We keep saying

when we get to this, when we get to

this... One more week to go to be

Monday is still pretty tough. But I

think the takings this year are the

same as five years ago, so we have

gone backwards in the last five

years.

Christmas is a time people

buy toys, but it is especially vital

for making money.

With our

Christmas, the toy industry is not

viable. It is all about Christmas.

25% of the annual turnover is in the

last four weeks before Christmas.

This week, it is a percent. It is

absolutely vital we get it correct

at the right time. --8 %.

Good luck

with it. Good morning. We will talk

about Toys R Us. It is crunch day.

This could determine whether they

stay or shut down entirely.

Today is

the CVA vote. This is a deal with

creditors were they vote to see if

they continue under the stewardship

of insolvency. If they do not get

it, they could possibly have to look

at administration, another form of

insolvency. It is something that

changes the status of the company.

They then decide what happens with

the future of the company.

Ultimately, they are proposing they

closed 20 stores with the loss of

500 jobs, or the alternative is the

entire thing shut down. That could

affect 3500!

Potentially.

Administration itself, 26 stores in

an CVA it. Realistically, I think it

will trade under insolvency and lose

more jobs otherwise.

A tough time

before Christmas. Thank you very

much. There you have it, a really

important day in terms of sales. If

you want to go in the stores, you

can until the new year. But there

are big questions about the future

of the store riding on the decision,

and we will get that later today.

More from me

and we will get that later today.

More from me later. We will hear

more from him later in the

through with the temperatures

certainly feeling very mild

for the time of year.

I'm back with the latest

from the BBC London Newsroom

in half an hour.

Bye for now.

Hello, this is Breakfast,

with Naga Munchetty and Charlie

Stayt.

Damian Green, one of Theresa May's

closest allies, has been sacked

from the Cabinet.

An inquiry found he had made

misleading statements

about pornography found

on a computer in his office.

Good morning, it is

Thursday 21 December.

Also this morning: More than 60,000

mothers and babies have been harmed

in incidents in maternity units

in England over the past two years.

The future of Toys'R'Us

and thousands of jobs

could be decided today.

We will be looking at

the state of the toy market.

In sport: What a story for Korey.

Korey Smith scores the injury-time

winner for Bristol City that knocks

the holders, Manchester United,

out of the League Cup.

And Carol is here in

the studio with the weather.

Good morning. This morning it is

fairly cloudy for many of us. It is

also a mild start to the day. There

is some patchy fog and also some

drizzle but across parts of Scotland

it is dry start.

Good morning.

First, our main story: Damian Green,

one of Theresa May's closest allies,

has been sacked from the Cabinet

after an inquiry found he had

breached the ministerial code.

He was asked to quit

after he was found to have made

inaccurate and

misleading statements.

He had previously denied being told

by police about pornography found

on his office computer in 2008.

Our political correspondent

Alex Forsyth reports.

Side-by-side yesterday,

the Prime Minister and her close

ally Damian Green, her

deputy in all but name.

But, hours after they sat

together in the Commons,

he was sacked.

It stems back to this police raid

on Mr Green's Parliamentary offices

nine years ago.

Officers said legal pornography

was found on computers.

Mr Green has always and still denies

that it was his, but he also said

he hadn't been told about it,

and that wasn't right.

He has now admitted police lawyers

talked to his lawyers in 2008,

and police raised it with him

in 2013, and he said...

It is that breach of the ministerial

code that cost him his job.

There were also claims from this

Tory activist about inappropriate

behaviour by Mr Green.

Her account was said to be

plausible, but there was no clear

conclusion about what had happened.

Mr Green apologised for making

her feel uncomfortable,

but denied wrongdoing.

In a letter to Mr Green,

Theresa May said she was extremely

sad at having to write

regarding his resignation.

She has lost a long-term friend

and confidant from her Cabinet

table, but some said her

decision showed strength.

I don't think it's damaging

to the Prime Minister at all,

really, because she's

made the decision.

You know, it says something

about her that, even if somebody

is a close ally, she's prepared

to make a decision and urge him

to take the decision

himself, to step down.

And, in doing that, I have to say

that shows that she is not prepared

to cover for somebody if she feels

that they didn't answer

the questions they should have done.

Nonetheless, the Prime Minister

will no doubt feel the loss of such

a trusted ally from her top team.

Tens of thousands of mothers

and babies in England have been

harmed when receiving maternity care

over the last two years.

More than 250,000 incidents

were reported by hospital staff

to the health regulator,

NHS Improvement.

Most were minor, but almost

a quarter of the incidents led

to the mother or baby being harmed.

Our health correspondent

Adina Campbell reports.

Wendy and Ryan Aguis

from East Sussex lost their baby

daughter three years ago.

She was stillborn.

An NHS investigation found some

maternity guidelines

were not followed.

Leaving the hospital

with a box of things,

instead of your baby, was just...

Having to leave her there,

going home and leaving your baby

there - you just

can't comprehend it.

It was here at this hospital

where Wendy was cared for.

Despite telling staff that she had

concerns about her baby's movements,

she was sent home on two

different occasions.

Figures seen by the BBC show

there were more than 275,000

maternity care incidents reported

voluntarily by concerned staff

in England over the last two years.

The problems included women

being told to stay at home,

babies being left brain-damaged,

and potentially avoidable deaths.

Just over three quarters

of the incidents reported did not

cause any harm to mother or baby,

but more than 60,000 did,

something the Government says

it is hoping to reduce under

new plans announced last month.

We want to be the safest and best

maternity system in the world.

The vast majority of births

are completely safe.

But what's going wrong

at the moment is that,

when we have a tragedy,

we're not learning from it nearly

as effectively as we should.

East Sussex Healthcare Trust says

they have apologised to Wendy

and Ryan, and admitted some aspects

of their service did not

meet their usual standards.

The people of Catalonia will elect

a new regional parliament today.

The Spanish government dissolved

the previous administration after it

organised a referendum

and declared independence.

Opinion polls suggest that pro

and anti-independence parties

are running neck-and-neck.

South Korea says its soldiers have

fired around 20 warning shots

at North Korean troops who had

approached the border

between the two countries.

The defence ministry in Seoul said

the North Koreans appeared to be

searching for one of their soldiers,

who had earlier taken advantage

of thick fog to cross the border

and defect to the South.

A poll carried out for the BBC

suggests that almost one in ten

young people across the UK have

spent at least a month sofa-surfing

because they have

nowhere else to go.

The most common reasons included

family issues and domestic violence.

The Government says it is providing

more than £1 billion of funding

before 2020 to reduce

all forms of homelessness.

Four years ago, Dale was thrown out

of home by this mother on Christmas

Day. He was 16 years old.

On the

day, I had to call a friend, and

that is how I ended Christmas Day.

Friends of the family 's' house, and

finding someone at the State.

Dale's

problems began at age seven, when

this father left home. He began

living with this grandmother. But

during this GCSEs she needed 24-hour

care so he moved back in with this

mother. After being kicked out, Dale

says he often didn't know where he

was going to spend the night while

studying at school.

It was very hard

trying to balance work life and

personal life, because it is hard to

focus on doing your schoolwork and

revision during the day when you are

worried about where you will sleep

at night.

The polling company ComRes

spoke to 1000 people aged between 16

and 25. The study found almost one

in ten young people had spent the

night on friend 's' floor or sofa

for the night. The most common

reason was parents being unable to

provide housing, extended family

being unable to help, and splitting

from a partner.

About 70% of young

people who come to centrepoint come

because a relationship with their

family has broken down. They are

looking for somewhere warm and dry

to sleep so they a lot of people do

end up sleeping a sofas for that

reason.

Dale says although he never

had to sleep rough, he often came

close to it. He has found a home

with the help of the charity

Centrepoint. He is now in this

second year at university, studying

for a degree.

There is a widening regional divide

in access to high-performing

secondary schools in England.

The think tank the Education Policy

Institute says families living

in London have a growing chance

of living near a good secondary

school, while people in parts

of the north and north-east

are increasingly unlikely to have

such good schools available.

The Government says it is investing

£280 million in disadvantaged areas.

A baby has been born from an embryo

which was frozen nearly

25 years ago.

Baby Emma was conceived in October

1992, just a year and half

after her mum's own birth.

Health officials believe

it is the longest gap

between conception and

birth since IVF began.

Andrew Plant explains.

Preparing for Christmas

in eastern Tennessee,

but this year, Tina

and Ben Gibson have already got

the gift they wanted.

Seriously, in the middle

of the night, we'll wake up and just

look at her, and we're

like "Can you believe it?

Like, she's really ours."

Emma Gibson, born from an embryo

frozen 25 years ago.

I never thought that I'd be able,

you know, to have a pregnancy

and have a baby.

Like, oh, my gosh, you know?

Such a miracle, you know -

such a sweet, sweet miracle.

Mum Tina, is only 26 years old,

which means she and her son

were conceived within a few

months of each other.

She and Ben can't

give birth naturally.

So the National Embryo Donation

Centre provided them with an embryo,

which had been frozen in storage

for a quarter of a century.

If this embryo was born

when it was supposed to be,

like, we could have

been best friends.

We could have been friends.

And he just thought

that was so funny, so that's been

like, the going joke.

It's so crazy.

The embryo was donated 25 years ago,

by an anonymous family,

and kept in carefully

controlled conditions.

Emma Wren won't be genetically

related to her parents,

but has become their first

child and, it is thought,

a record-breaking baby, too.

You know, I think

she was chosen for us.

She's perfect.

I don't think we chose her, I think

she was chosen for us.

They're called snow-babies,

because of how long

they're kept frozen.

Finally, though, she is nice

and warm, and delivered in time

for her very first Christmas.

Andrew Plant, BBC News.

The council car park where the body

of Richard III was unearthed five

years ago has been protected as a

nationally important archaeological

site. Historians hope the status

will help preserve any buried, as

permission will now be needed before

any work can be done or any changes

made.

There is just one story dominating

the front pages this morning,

and that is the news of the sacking

of Damian Green from the Cabinet

after a Government inquiry found

he made inaccurate and misleading

statements over the discovery

of pornography on computers

in his Parliamentary office.

We can get more on this

with our political correspondent Ben

Wright.

Very similar front pages, it is all

over the front page of the Guardian,

Green sacked after admitting he lied

over pornographic images. This

statements were inaccurate and

misleading. And questions now about

how big a blow this is to the Prime

Minister, as he was a personal

friend.

The front page of the

Mirror, Theresa May acts as deputy

over pornography lies. Speaking to

our correspondent, we will talk in a

moment about the indications for

Theresa May and the ongoing

situation for her. But let's talk

about Damian Green. It is a story

which has been knocking around for

some time. He was the Deputy Prime

Minister. He had told this enquiry,

he had told this colleagues, he had

told the press, that he didn't know

he had told this colleagues, he had

told the press, that he didn't know,

the police had never told him, about

the computer pornography. That is

what he said and now we know

differently.

Precisely, Charlie, and

that is why he has been sacked.

Because during this investigation by

the Cabinet office they discovered

that he had made two clearly

misleading statements in the last

few weeks concerning the original

raid on this office back in 2008,

when the Tories were in opposition

and the police were looking into a

leak enquiry and legal pornography

was found on office computers. He

has always said, and said again in

the last couple of months, that he

did not know about that. And he made

to make statements on the record

saying as much in the last few

weeks. In fact, police lawyers told

his lawyers way back in 2008 that

material had been found on the

computers, and he was told by police

in 2013 that pornography had been

found on those computers. And that

is why this is a clear breach of the

ministerial code, and he is judged

to have made misleading, inaccurate

statements. That is why he has gone.

He has, and still says, always

maintained that he never viewed or

downloaded that pornography himself.

It is, given what you described

here, and his role as Deputy Prime

Minister, this is a very significant

moment. Sometimes it can get lost in

the jargon of the ministerial code,

there is a reason you have a

ministerial code. Because people are

held to account in a different way,

in a much more severe, much more

scrutiny than other people would be,

which is why it is so important.

He

has to be unimpeachable. You have to

be demonstrably truthful all the

time, and that is what the code in

forces. Now, in her letter, Theresa

May rights to Damian Green saying

that there is absolutely no evidence

that you have broken the code on any

other fronts, that you have always

upheld the highest standards. But

she was given clear evidence at the

beginning of the week that by making

these two statements concerning that

discovery of pornography back in

2008, he had made misleading

statements. And that is why, after

consulting her own independent

adviser on the code within Number

Ten, she felt she had no option but

to sack him.

In relation to the Prime Minister

and things like Brexit, moving onto

the next stage, if this had

happened, I don't know, two weeks

ago, it would have been a different

story. It is funny how politics

work. It is curious. Timing has a

bearing on everything.

No question.

You are right, a few weeks ago,

before the Brexit hurdle had been

cleared, hot on the heels of the

resignation of two cabinet

ministers, Michael Fallon and Priti

Patel in a short amount of time. I

think Damien Green, if he had been

sacked then, it would have felt like

a government really losing its

footing, beginning to unravel,

looking like it was in trouble. The

fact some time has passed between

those resignations and this lessens

the political impact of it, I think,

as you said, as we are on the other

side of the important meeting in

Brussels with Britain getting the

green light to move forward in the

talks. Britain has rediscovered

stability. Theresa May feels

reassured. I was listening at the

door of her meeting last night.

There was a jeers and applause for

Theresa May from Tory MPs. --

ferocious cheers. There was the

botched election, and it has been a

difficult year. Six months months

on, she looks secure in her job. She

has the backing of Tory MPs. There

is no other rival in sight. She is a

stronger position than a few months

ago. That lessens the impact of this

departure from the cabinet by Damien

Green. Also because he is not a

particularly high-profile cabinet

minister. He is not running a

department. It is not even clear she

needs a quick reshuffle to fill his

shoes. He was, though, a very

important ally to the Prime

Minister. They have been friends for

decades, back to university. She

does not have many allies. Damien

Green was a confidant she could

share thoughts with and confide in.

His departure will be a personal

blow. It comes on the back of her

losing her two closest chiefs of

staff, they went. She may be feeling

she is in a stronger position than a

few months ago, but she might be

feeling more isolated at Number 10

than at the beginning in terms of

the people around her giving her an

invite, helping to get her through

the choppy waters of Brexit.

We are

getting some news from Australia.

This incident happened an hour and a

quarter ago. More than a dozen

people have been injured, some

seriously, after a car collided with

pedestrians outside a major train

station in Melbourne. Police have

arrested the car driver. We do not

know the extent of the injuries at

this stage. Paramedics have

transported 13 people to city

hospitals. There is no indication as

yet this is a terrorist incident. It

is not put out by police that way. A

dozen have been injured after a car

collided with pedestrians at a major