was too. natalie elphicke, who was allegedly firmly on the right of politics and once mocked sir keir starmer as sir softy , has keir starmer as sir softy, has defected to labour. i'll be giving my view. israel has launched its long expected rafa offensive and vowed to eliminate the remaining hamas battalions in the city. i'll be joined by an israeli mp who also attended the oxford pro—palestine protests today and like the prodigal son, it seems the king's schedule is too busy. state of the nation starts now. i'll also be joined by a particularly pugnacious panel this evening historian and broadcaster doctor tessa dunlop and the founder of the new culture forum, peter whittle. as always, as you know, i want to hear from you. it's a crucial part of the programme. email me mercy muroki gbnews.com. but now it's what you've all been waiting for. the news of the day with sam francis.

>> jacob, thank you very much and good evening to you. it's 8:00 and the headlines from the newsroom this hour. another of rishi sunak mps has defected to laboun rishi sunak mps has defected to labour, the second in under two weeks. natalie elphicke announced her decision just two minutes before prime minister's questions. the dover mp said rishi sunaks government is chaotic and claims that labour has changed well . some of her has changed well. some of her now former conservative colleagues have been reposting old social media messages from natalie when she criticised laboun natalie when she criticised labour. dan poulter made the same switch to the conservative to labour rather less than a fortnight ago, when the conservative lost hundreds of councillors and the blackpool south by—election last week. speaking shortly after defecting , miss elphicke said that a labour government promises a brighter future. >> in 2019, the conservatives stood on a manifesto that was very much centre ground. but under rishi sunak they've abandoned the centre ground and broken many election promises.

meanwhile, under keir starmer, labour have changed and i think that change is going to bring a much better future for our country. and that's why i'm so keen to join the labour party and play my part in bringing that important future forward in scotland. >> meanwhile, kate forbes says her appointment as deputy first minister there is a moment of extraordinary privilege she'd been promised a significant role by john swinney after deciding not to stand in the leadership election herself. miss forbes, who only narrowly lost out to humza yousaf for the post of leader last year, takes over from shona robinson and she remains in cabinet in another position . russia is promising an position. russia is promising an appropriate response after the uk expelled one of its defence attaches . the home office claims attaches. the home office claims he is a spy. several russian diplomatic premises are also being shut to while there'll be new restrictions on diplomatic visas. the home secretary says that britain is trying to dismantle the kremlin's intelligence gathering operations, a move that's also supported by labour. we've heard

today that a father whose teenage daughter, who took her own life after watching harmful content on social media, says that a draft plan to protect children online doesn't go far enough.the children online doesn't go far enough. the media regulator ofcom says platforms must take action to stop their algorithms recommending harmful content to children or face significant fines. but ian russell, part of bereaved families for online safety, wants to see the safety code strengthened to make sure that the world's biggest platforms, he says, better protect children online. and finally, some royal news. prince harry heard cheers as he arrived today at saint paul's cathedral in for london a special event marking ten years of the invictus games. during the service, the duke of sussex gave a short reading in front of representatives from various participating nations and some injured servicemen and women . injured servicemen and women. >> there are varieties of gifts , >> there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit ,

>> there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit, and >> there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit , and there but the same spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same lord, and there are varieties of activities , but it varieties of activities, but it is the same god who activates all of them in everyone . all of them in everyone. >> meanwhile, less than two miles away, the king was holding his first garden party of the season at buckingham palace. though we've been told by a spokesperson yesterday for harry that the monarch's full program means that the pair won't be seeing each other during his short visit to the uk . those are short visit to the uk. those are the latest headlines from the newsroom. another update at 9:00. in the meantime, to stay across all of the latest news, you can scan the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. common alerts . alerts. >> welcome back to state of the nation. the purpose of a business is to make money for its shareholders. this has been true since the dawn of time, or

at least since the dawn of business. up until recently, businesses were expected to obey the laws passed by parliament, and any regulations that flowed from such law . however, in the from such law. however, in the last few years, something has dramatically changed with the rise of the sinister phenomenon of environmental , social and of environmental, social and governance. esg as an overlay above and beyond the law of the land. so banks and other businesses have taken it upon themselves to enter the field of politics with their business decisions being determined by some higher overarching power. and there's no better example of this than the case of the de—banking of our own nigel farage. nigel's case revealed a lot more than the political biases and malpractices of natwest executives. it revealed de—banking to be a nationwide phenomenon following nigel's de—banking scandal, the financial conduct authority proved itself to be about as good as its job, as dame alison rose was after issuing a report claiming no one had lost their account because of their political views. seemingly

ignonng political views. seemingly ignoring nigel's subject access requests, which proved precisely the opposite . the good news is the opposite. the good news is the opposite. the good news is the treasury select committee has been following this issue more conscientiously, and the revelations have been extremely worrying. in february, it revealed that uk banks forced the closure of 140,000 140,000 small business accounts last yean small business accounts last year, nearly 3% of all small businesses in the united kingdom. small businesses are the backbone of our economy. not only do they employ 16.7 million people, generating £2.4 trillion a year for the economy, they also play a vital role in our communities , providing communities, providing opportunities for economic mobility. but it doesn't end there. today's revelations from there. today's revelations from the committee have shown that santander and lloyds have shut the accounts of 300 defence companies. now they're not the bogeyman, particularly in this, because other banks simply didn't provide these data . and didn't provide these data. and it suggests that the figure therefore could be even higher. i couldn't have said it better than the treasury committee chairman and conservative mp dame harriett baldwin, who said we cannot have organisations in

this country systematically de—banking legitimate firms or industries because their board turns its nose up at their line of work. if their work is legal, then they should be able to access a bank account. so not only has de—banking posed a serious risk to free expression, but now it is posing a risk to our national security. it doesn't end with mere threats to free speech and national security. energy security remains under threat, with regulators discouraging investment in fossil fuel companies. it's only recently the climate change was one of the climate change was one of the four critical policy aims that the government vacuously instructed the bank of england to prioritise the esg driven de—banking agenda is woven into our government institutions . not our government institutions. not only does the supposedly independent bank of england issue highly contentious, politically driven commercial advice to banks without a democratic mandate for doing so, but the financial conduct authority miserably failed to investigate . the de—banking investigate. the de—banking scandal is compromised. two in

september last year, it again without a democratic mandate, along with the prudential regulatory authority , issued regulatory authority, issued proposals that would force firms to, quote, develop a diversity and inclusion strategy, setting out how the firm will meet their objectives and goals and set targets to address underrepresentation. the issue goes right to the heart of democracy . fundamentally, it is democracy. fundamentally, it is a political ideology capturing our non—democratic institutions both in the public and private sector , without a mandate from sector, without a mandate from the british people. this ideology is now threatening our ability to conduct business. our nation's energy security and our national security. it also affects freedom of speech and should be stopped as ever. let me know your thoughts mailmogg@gbnews.com. but joining me now is the emeritus research professor at lse and former mod adviser, gwydion. prince gwydion, what a pleasure to see you. how has esg got into the bloodstream of british business?

>> i think it's completely appalling. the report that , appalling. the report that, harriet baldwin and her committee have produced, which you just summarised , it it's you just summarised, it it's come in because this is the leisure of the theory class to invert thorstein veblen's title of his famous study of what the leisure class do, the theory of the leisure class and what esg does is, is to, as you said, to produce a series of criteria which have no status whatsoever. the fundamental line, surely, is the one which dame harriet produced and that you quoted, which is if it's legal, then it should be banked . but my worry should be banked. but my worry is, as somebody who is deeply involved in and interested in defence, is that this is not just consequential. i think it's really very sinister because such move . as where will they

such move. as where will they command the greatest pleasure? who will smile most clearly? it will be xi jinping. who will smile most clearly? it will be xi jinping . clearly it will be xi jinping. clearly it will be xi jinping. clearly it will be xi jinping. clearly it will be mr putin. if we are in a position where we are going to self harm ourselves. at the last time i checked , the defence of time i checked, the defence of the realm was the first duty of government. it's not an optional extra . extra. >> absolutely. and these obugafions >> absolutely. and these obligations won't be placed on chinese and russian companies. but is it even legal for british companies? don't they have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders, primarily to make money rather than to follow a woke agenda ? woke agenda? >> of course they do, and if a bankis >> of course they do, and if a bank is going to prioritise these esg criteria over those duties, which is how you began your your monologue , then your your monologue, then frankly, investors should draw their own conclusions . but let their own conclusions. but let me give you the, the analogy which, which this all brings to

my mind. and it's, it's a properly military one. if the united kingdom was a ship of war, if this was hms great britain, and if it was in nelson's navy , we are at a state nelson's navy, we are at a state in in international affairs where we are going to action stations, we know this because the secretary of state for defence reminded us in his lancaster house speech. and just yesterday, i think it was in washington, the chief of defence staff, admiral tony radakin, said very much the same thing. now, what does that mean ? it now, what does that mean? it means that a marine drummer beats court beats to quarters and in going to action, what do you do? you clear the decks, you get all the detritus out of the way so that the ship can be properly fought. and my view is that the moment has now come when all these luxury beliefs like these esg things, they are

virtue signals. they are a sort of form of intellectual conspicuous consumption . they go conspicuous consumption. they go over the side. they clearly have to go over the side because they impede gwithian. >> that seems to be fundamental. what you're saying that these are luxury opinions in times of plenty and peace, but that when war is on the horizon, you have to become serious again. and these esg policies are a lack of seriousness . seriousness. >> well, absolutely. and it goes further because of course, there is a direct connection between varne, what we might call hard defence, that is to say, ships and planes and tanks and the other issue which you mentioned, which is energy security , it's which is energy security, it's something which i also work on as i think you know , and indeed as i think you know, and indeed the way in which we are allowing the way in which we are allowing the energy security of our country to be weakened and undermined by, frankly, entirely

unscientific projects such as net zero. these this is the luxury belief to end all luxury beliefs. and we are beating to quarters and over the side. it must go . must go. >> excellent. well, thank you very much with you. and i'm now joined by public policy researcher and former coutts employee oliver lewis. oliver, thank you for coming back in to discuss this. what do we do as a country if esg stops us doing all the things we're actually good at? >> i mean, both you and the americans have had to make a number of very good points. i mean, margaret thatcher, i think, hit the nail on the head. you know, this country has to produce something. we have to produce something. we have to produce wealth. and our defence sector is one of the one of the sole sectors that is still one of our, you know, national champions for want of a better phrase. so if we continue to undermine our micro—enterprises, dare i say, the campaigns to the church of england and so on to disinvest from bae systems, you know, a major international defence company, you know, where

are we going to generate our wealth from? >> and it has a real consequence, doesn't it? because if investors are less likely to invest in bae, then for bae to do business becomes more expensive because the people who will invest in it expect a higher return. so there is a real cost that you can identify by limiting the pool of investors. >> absolutely. and you know, these huge multinational firms which, you know, generate most of the, ft—se 100 income margins and the income that goes into our pension funds and pays for our pension funds and pays for our energy bills that the professor emeritus was referencing, if we don't have if we're not home to these multinational firms, those profits will go elsewhere. the investment will go elsewhere. bae systems, perhaps at one stage, i think there is still a golden share in bae systems . so golden share in bae systems. so perhaps they can't just, up stocks and leave. but we need to be championing the success of these firms and not doing them down. and this politicisation of, you know, who judges the fairness and the justice when

it's beyond the rule of law is politicisation , but not by politicisation, but not by politicians. >> and the bank of england has rules trying to make it harder to lend money to energy companies. but surely that's not the business of the bank of england? >> no, absolutely. and i think there is a disturbing mission creep. and a lot of our national institutions, which, you know, it's how we get our institutions back so that we're sort of at the standards of really the 1990s where the rule of law was clear. everybody knew where the boundanes clear. everybody knew where the boundaries were. the bank of england became independent in that decade , but there was quite that decade, but there was quite a sort of almost a club capitalism idea of the culture of business in this country coming off obviously, a wave of entrepreneurial thatcherism, which of course, has transformed this nation standard of living, and getting back to that culture is a political project , and getting back to that culture is a political project, and that's really where we're going to have to end up going, i think, and the failure of regulators in and i think particularly the fca in protecting investors is notable. >> and instead of concentrating in protecting investors from malpractice and fraud , it's

malpractice and fraud, it's decided to go on for diversity and inclusion. is that because it's probably easier to do. >> it's easier to do and obviously heaping layer upon layer of regulation and requirements and codes, which, as you say, you know, beyond the rule of law, if you like, just makes doing business much more expensive. it's quite interesting. you look at the headcount. i remember when i was in the banking sector that the headcount of the compliance teams, i mean, you know, when i joined in 2010, you know, i think the headcount in one of the large multinational banks i worked for was perhaps 100, in london. by the time i left , it london. by the time i left, it was about 2000. you know, this burgeoning team , which is a cost burgeoning team, which is a cost on business because that has to be salaries , really nice, high be salaries, really nice, high salaries. >> it has to be paid for by your customers. >> it does. is there a kernel of good thinking in esg that you want companies that don't despoil the environment, that, govern themselves well, that take some social interest in the communities? >> absolutely. i mean, no one's

going to say no to those things. but obviously where the issues become contested, such as , let's become contested, such as, let's say 50 over 50 gender representation . so of course, representation. so of course, nobody objects to a clever, intelligent woman achieving the highest possible position in society they can reach. but when you say, well, we're going to give preference to a certain type of position or, or job on the basis of your gender, that is obviously mission creep and is obviously mission creep and is the definition of anti meritocracy really . meritocracy really. >> and it's the inclusion of certain companies automatically. so defence became arms manufacturers. just became automatically bad. >> absolutely. and of course i think that's bound up obviously with what's going on in the middle east. so it's particularly disturbing. and we were talking about shirley williams earlier. you think of her mother, vera britain, george lansbury , you know, it's very lansbury, you know, it's very noble. it's a bit like the environmental peace. and it's wonderful to champion peace. but of course, you have to be ready for war always. you always have to be on a war footing. >> if you want peace, prepare for war. absolutely. thank you very much indeed. oliver, coming

up, did the king really snub prince harry? not once, but twice, as suggested. plus, the age old excuse my ate. dog my homework is out. it's far more fashionable to blame brexit. now

well, we were debunking de—banking and talking about defence companies and the mail mogs have come in. george says the government could tell the banks to stop the de—banking of firms and individuals by threatening their license . threatening their license. instead, they allow it because these same banks will take the heat when the government takes us to a cashless society, we should carry on with cash. taxi drivers prefer it when we like to sport taxi drivers, alexander says. could it be time for legislation making it illegal to close someone's bank account with a court without a court order? well, as you may have seen, natalie elphicke has

decided to cross the floor to the bafflement of mps on both sides of the house. what do we think prompted this once staunch conservative to have a sudden conversion to socialism? well, i'm joined now by my panel of historian and broadcaster doctor tessa dunlop, and the founder of the new culture forum, peter whittle, tessa, you're of the left, i consider myself more of a progressive liberal. >> all right, but that's of the left anyway , do you think left anyway, do you think natalie is in any way of the left in comparison to you, or has the labour party opened its arms to a hard nosed right winger? >> well, it's interesting because i. >> she wasn't hugely on my political radar, if i'm honest with you. i'm sure she's very important to the people of doven important to the people of dover, and she has certainly become suddenly more prominent . become suddenly more prominent. immediately my cynicism kicked in and i thought, oh, clearly she's just trying to bag a seat. but then when you dig in, no, she's not intending to be a politician after the next election, so you have to question. she said she'd refuse a peerage. >> i didn't think she said that. that'd be an interesting thing. >> a peerage is a slightly different question. but she's not standing for re—election in

doven not standing for re—election in dover, to be clear. so it's not about her trying to maintain her hold in that constituency . and hold in that constituency. and so that made me think, well, she really she's a politician who really she's a politician who really must care about the issues. she's basically nailed herself to the stake of migration and housing. and actually, when you dig into your government's record on housing and on migration, there , and on migration, there, possibly your two most pronounced complaints , her pronounced complaints, her complaint on migration is that we haven't been right wing enough. >> funnily enough, she's been absolutely savage about the labour party's incompetence. >> well, what's fascinating is that it >> well, what's fascinating is thatitis >> well, what's fascinating is that it is under the conservatives. migration has been wound post brexit. and you would agree with that. i mean , would agree with that. i mean, 1.5 million, the majority of which, incidentally , are legal, which, incidentally, are legal, that your government gives us levers to allow them to be much more illegal migration because they all turn up in dover. so she's she's focused granted on the small boats and she clearly believes that keir starmer's very thought, very thought through five point plan. you're

right has more possibility of working than rwanda. why are you turning away at that. because his well—thought through plan makes everybody laugh. >> yes, peter, this is such an odd decision, isn't it? >> it seems very odd. her reasoning. i had never heard of her either. i have to say . so. i her either. i have to say. so. i take it, you know your word for it that she is, staunchly conservative, etc? i mean , it's conservative, etc? i mean, it's just opportunism, isn't it? i mean, or what could it possibly be if she's not standing and also , for that matter, you know, also, for that matter, you know, to be concerned particularly about immigration and housing, you know, labour party is incapable of having a discussion about housing, with actually talking about immigration at the same time, it's just doesn't happen. they just completely ignore it. so it's a bit of a mystery, and also it's sort of so completely diametric. i mean, it's not like even churchill going to the liberals. >> well, it it is because we're in the two party system and previously it was liberal

conservative and now it's conservative and now it's conservative labour. but just to pick you up, actually one of the very few concrete policies that the labour party have is the big build. the million plus houses. we haven't seen the equivalent from the conservatives and i think there has to be an emphasis on what the options are. if you want to stop the small boats. we all know that rwanda is pie in the sky. jacob knows that. it's one of the reasons, one of my issues. >> i don't agree with that, but she but she could have gone to reform or she could have gone to the. >> but clearly she doesn't believe that helter skelter believes in what she believes in. >> she was a member of the erg. she was a staunch eurosceptic. she was a staunch eurosceptic. she was a staunch eurosceptic. she was one of boris's final supporters. he's just a very odd thing to do. >> i think it's extraordinary, and also utterly pointless. i mean, it will bewilder most people. >> possibly it suggests, worryingly , from a progressive, worryingly, from a progressive, liberal point of view, the labour party have tacked so far across to the right. >> that's an interesting point. >> that's an interesting point. >> they're actually sitting or parking their tanks on your lawn. >> an interesting point, but we're going to move to on higher matters because it has been reported that our sovereign

lord, the king, has snubbed his psalm, the duke of sussex, for second time in 24 hours. the king has chosen prince william to lead prince harry's old regiment by making him the colonel in chief of the army air corps. while today prince harry celebrated the ten year anniversary of his invictus games with a service at saint paups games with a service at saint paul's cathedral. this comes after speculation that the king is too busy to see his son dunng is too busy to see his son during the duke's fleeting visit to the united kingdom, spokesman told the press that prince harry will not be seeing his father dunng will not be seeing his father during his visit to the uk, owing to the king's full schedule. well, i've got my panel with me , doctor tessa panel with me, doctor tessa dunlop and peter whittle. peter? yes couldn't they have managed to find half an hour ? to find half an hour? >> it would seem odd, would it not? jacob, you know he's here. for how long is he here for? harry i don't know, but i mean, just ten minutes or whatever. but i mean, the point about these sort of issues, particularly with the royal family is that we're whistling in the dark. really? we don't really know, actually, the characters involved, but one's instinct is, is that i can't

imagine that the king, who seems a very sincere man and from what i can gather, quite a religious man as well, that he would actually kind of be vindictive about not seeing his son. >> well, in the prodigal son, the father sees his son in the distance and actually runs to go and greet him. it's a very different story from this one. >> yeah, i do feel that irrespective of what goes on behind closed doors and i think we always grapple or fail to forget that it's not just a personal family, it's also a thumping, great institution that a little bit more thought could have been given to optics. it doesn't appear redemptive or kind to prevent your son from seeing you, even if it's just a hey, dad, how you doing? here's a ghastly present from california and a cap to cover your bald patch. you know that's all it takes. that's the way people should speak to the king, even if they're. >> but he's his dad. he's his papa, isn't he? and the king. >> well, i believe that harry. you know, we know that they have a father son relationship, which

i thought that in his book spare, which i bet neither of you two read, and i did, i'm not sure whether that's a point of pride or not in it. he says, you know, my father wasn't equipped to be a single parent. and you get this sense throughout harry's life that he's pretty low down the pecking order. there's always been royal duties when charles, prince of wales, there was, of course, warring parents, a dreadful divorce boarding school, which again takes you away from the family home. and i just feel this in so many respects compounds the problem. this is about arguably , problem. this is about arguably, you know, all this kind of hoo ha regarding the sussexes leaving is about this pain that harry feels and the king's doing nothing to say, hey, i'm sorry about that or let's, let's try again here. >> yeah, but tesla, i mean, i would say that most people, you know, i think that they would be on the king's side if you like, in this because the amount of kind of damage that these that couple have wrought know on the royal family hang on, on, on the royal family hang on, on, on the royal family hang on, on, on the royal family and frankly , i royal family and frankly, i think people are fed up actually with even hearing from them. that's a peter and their various

different pr launches and all of this sort of thing. so i think, frankly , in some i think most frankly, in some i think most people will be sitting at home thinking, well, actually, you know, fair enough. you know, you've just done nothing , you've just done nothing, actually, but cause them grief and, you know , peter, a lot of and, you know, peter, a lot of people will because the only narrative they are spun is the one that's cast through the predominantly right wing press, which castigates harry and meghan. >> arguably, he could have gone so much further. yes, he was a man in pain. has he made mistakes with harry? >> meghan is quite simple . >> meghan is quite simple. listen, when they were married , listen, when they were married, there was the most extraordinary level of goodwill towards them, extraordinary level of goodwill. and it was by their actions and what they said and what they implied . basically, people went implied. basically, people went right off where today now we're not pre 2018. >> and the truth is at that service, harry was flanked by the spencer family and in the royal garden party two miles down the road, you had the king

surrounded by his family. and whether they like it or not, it looks like two sides of a trench. and, you know it. >> isn't that always the feeling that any conversation anyone has with duke of sussex will be in his next book, and the royal family can't risk that? >> and do you know what the king could just say? hi, son. how'd you take your tea these days? i mean, they don't have to have profound conversations about prostates and bowel movements. >> really, they do. so much to my panel for mentioning that particularly, i'll see them again shortly, but in a moment i'll be joined by an israeli mp who attended the oxford pro—palestine protests earlier today. plus the draconian net zero targets may force ford to cut the sales of its petrol cars in the united kingdom.

well, the mail morgues have been coming in, and john says i don't blame charles for not meeting harry. the way he has denigrated his own family has been absolute

disgrace. and alice says elphic is an opportunist . it's that is an opportunist. it's that simple, well, i'm absolutely delighted now to, be able to discuss the rafah offensive , discuss the rafah offensive, which is so important because the rafah offensive has raised concerns from world leaders, including the us and uk, the uk has warned that israel risks committing war crimes if it continues its major military operation, after concerns that its assault will result in human catastrophe. on monday , the catastrophe. on monday, the israel defence forces called on 100,000 people in eastern rafah to evacuate back home in the united kingdom, oxford and cambridge university students launched gaza encampments on campuses as protests across uk universities spread. my next guest attended one of the pro—palestine protests at oxford university today, and i'm very pleased to be joined now by the israeli mp sharren haskel, thank you so much for coming in. what did you see when you went to

these protests ? yes, it was these protests? yes, it was actually really sad , to see actually really sad, to see that, i mean, it's not the same type of protest that we actually see in the united states, but fact is that these are. i'm sorry , excuse my language, but sorry, excuse my language, but useful idiots at the service of radical islam. israel wars, war. at the moment, it's not a territorial war. this is a cultural and a religious war. this is radical islam that's waging war on our values , on our waging war on our values, on our belief, democracy, liberties, equality , vie. equality, vie. >> and that's very interesting because you have a reputation as being quite a liberal member of the knesset, and you've been in the knesset, and you've been in the israeli parliament for nine years, but you've recognised the threat of this war and have taken quite a hard line on that, in spite of your otherwise quite liberal views. >> absolutely. i mean, for nine years, my fight in the

parliament was how to shape israel's future, to reduce regulation and bureaucracy and taxes and, and, you know , we've taxes and, and, you know, we've been talking about limiting the power of the unions , but once power of the unions, but once the 7th of october happened, everything's been pushed to the side because this is a fight on our survival . all this is going our survival. all this is going to dictate whether my children, my three babies are going to be able to have a future in their home, in their country. what we've experienced on the 7th of october, that is the worst nightmare a mother can ever imagine. and actually , she came imagine. and actually, she came into our reality and the only mission that i have right now as a parliament member is to make sure that this thing will never happen again . happen again. >> but what limits should there be? on israel's response , the be? on israel's response, the rafah crossing is being dealt with at the moment as we as we speak , but what responsibility speak, but what responsibility does israel have to minimise

civilian casualties and particularly the casualties amongst children? >> so if we look on the actual numbers at this moment with the new numbers and figures that actually came, this week, you see that the numbers are very close to, one casualty per one terrorist that was killed during this war. it means that academies are going to study how we operated, because the amount of civilian casualties. and honestly , every casualty, every honestly, every casualty, every civilian casualty is heartbreaking . but there was heartbreaking. but there was neven heartbreaking. but there was never, ever in the history of urban warfare, a country that had these amount of numbers and casualty . this had these amount of numbers and casualty. this is the had these amount of numbers and casualty . this is the lowest casualty. this is the lowest amount that ever had in history. and i think we can go back all the way to the second world war to actually to actually see that these numbers are fact . it's not these numbers are fact. it's not emotions. any death is a

devastating event. but every operation we do is targeted and we make sure that there is the least casualty possible . we warn least casualty possible. we warn ahead, we give leaflets, we give warnings to evacuate from these areas. and so , you know, areas. and so, you know, unfortunately, sometimes there are mistakes and these are the casualties who pay the highest price. >> but we hear that with the warnings that are giving, given some people move and they don't have food and they don't have water, and therefore they're faced with a false choice that if they stay, they may face the israeli defence force. on the other hand, if they go, they may find conditions that mean it's very difficult to survive anyway. >> so i think this is part of the tragedy that the palestinian people have actually experienced in regard to how the united nafions in regard to how the united nations actually address them. i mean, look, we've been in, in this war for now, seven months, okay?if this war for now, seven months, okay? if the united nation would have applied their rule or their

operation of humanitarian aid as they apply it in so many other conflict areas and disastrous area. take, for example, sudan, almost 25 million refugees and displaced people. okay, you have unicef now supplying almost 6 million children clean water. i mean , look on what's happened in mean, look on what's happened in syria and in afghanistan . they syria and in afghanistan. they are the only one that can actually operate this kind of humanitarian disaster. but they refuse to come in. why? because when we look on unrwa, where the united nations are actually giving them the mandate to supply humanitarian aid , this supply humanitarian aid, this corrupted organisation that hamas is literally controlling, stealing the humanitarian aid, incapable of distributing it, is making a complete failure. and when donating countries said we want to give funds, humanitarian funds , not to unrwa but to any funds, not to unrwa but to any

other organisation that supplies humanitarian aid. antonio guterres told the organisation not to accept this fund, to not compromise unrwa. it means that the united nations prefer not to compromise a corrupted to the core organisation who is led by terrorists , instead of actually terrorists, instead of actually supplying real humanitarian aid to palestinians who are in desperate need to. that humanitarian aid and what is now happening at rafah. >> there's been a lot of international pressure on israel not to go in to rafah from the united states and from the united states and from the united kingdom and obviously the us. your most important ally, a shipment of arms has been stopped in relation to it. so what's actually happening now and how responsive to international pressure is israel? >> so look , the last four months >> so look, the last four months there has actually been a quiet ceasefire trying to negotiate a deal.i ceasefire trying to negotiate a deal . i mean, our the only thing deal. i mean, our the only thing we want is to bring back our family members who were taken

out of their beds into those dungeons of hamas . and for four dungeons of hamas. and for four months there's been a quiet ceasefire in gaza. there weren't major operations. i mean, for four months now, you probably have heard and reported that israel is attempting to go into rafah, but didn't. it means that they had four months to evacuate. they had four months to create plans, and unfortunately, four months of discussions that led to no deal to bring back our family members. and it means we have to go in to bring them back and to bnng go in to bring them back and to bring them back alive. so we've started a specific targeted operation in a certain area in rafah, and we have taken the rafah, and we have taken the rafah crossing . so from a rafah crossing. so from a strategic perspective, we need to take the rafah crossing and the philadelphia crossing. try and imagine of you know, you know, imagine two major gates between egypt and gaza. what is hamas is actually bringing and

taking out of their arms , and taking out of their arms, and they take taxes on goods, but there's not many goods that are coming in. so they're bringing in arms. israel has to be able to control this border where they brought missiles and weapons and deadly machines that were made in iran to create as much devastation, devastate as possible. >> well, sharon, thank you so much for coming in. i completely agree hamas must be defeated. it is essential for the security of the west , and is essential for the security of the west, and we is essential for the security of the west , and we have to the west, and we have to recognise that iran is a threat to us all. well, coming up next, a writer has blamed the flop of his new musical on brexit. well, you know what they say. a bad workman blames his tools. plus ford has announced it's ready to restrict petrol car sales in the uk because of the draconian net zero rules.

well, the creator of a west end musical has blamed brexit. after his production was forced to close early . rufus wainwright close early. rufus wainwright has claimed that west end audiences lack curiosity after brexit, and claims his work was to european. however, the uber woke brexit hating new york times says it desecrated the original film, while the pinko new statesman said it was chaotic and masochistic. what will brexit be blamed for next? and my children, if you're listening, it won't be accepted as an excuse for not doing your homework well, i'm joined now by arts editor at the express, stefan kyriazis, along with my panel of historian and broadcaster doctor tessa dunlop and founder of the new culture forum, peter whittle. well, stefan, thank you very much for joining me. is this the most unlikely thing to be blamed on brexit yet ? was it just a brexit yet? was it just a turkey? it was. >> i'm a little bit embarrassed for him because basically the fact is the show wasn't very

good. it should not have been put on a west end stage. it wasn't ready. it was messy and confusing . people were leaving. confusing. people were leaving. it was terrible. i was there and i'm sorry. i feel rufus music, musicals are supposed to have musicals are supposed to have music that you enjoy that carry the story . his music that you enjoy that carry the story. his music did not do that. his music was subpar as well. so on every level it did . well. so on every level it did. not so. it's a bit embarrassing that he's a bit like in the old days when they used to be saying, oh, english food, we now europeans used to mock our food. we now have the best food in the world. every choice possible. we're open to everything . we're open to everything. >> we've slightly lost the line , >> we've slightly lost the line, i'm afraid, stefan. so i'm going to move to the panel. i'm going to move to the panel. i'm going to go to peter first because, it's brilliant , to go to peter first because, it's brilliant, isn't to go to peter first because, it's brilliant , isn't it? it's brilliant, isn't it? everything. that's great. do you remember the bbc used to say in spite of brexit. yes. >> yes, exactly. >> yes, exactly. >> that has faded. but now anything that people don't like it is, i think , as you pointed

it is, i think, as you pointed out there, i mean some, you know, very sort of reputable liberal publications have criticised it's obviously a rubbish turkey, it's a turkey and people have gone from it. >> what i find interesting about this actually, though, jacob, is that, these kind of criticisms, accusations of being narrow minded, being bigoted, the, the worst people are, in fact the cultural establishment, you know, when it comes to all the big issues of our time, including brexit, they absolutely speak as one. >> well, i think we've got stefan back. so, stefan, if you are back, i might just ask, is rufus wainwright actually a generally good composer capable man who's just had a turkey or , man who's just had a turkey or, is he somebody who we won't hear much of again , he's highly much of again, he's highly successful within his field. for me, it's a little bit like there's a show on at the moment at the national theatre, london, tied as music by pj harvey. i gave both shows one star. they both seem to be written by

songwriters that are very much more indie. musical theatre requires a certain type of music. it has to carry the story. it has to carry the audience. you can't navel gaze and be a little bit esoteric about it. it is a thrusting part. so i think they're the wrong people for these shows, and you can feel like they are termined not to write a song that sounds like it should be in a musical, which is ridiculous and does not work. >> so are we just two of us, old fashioned and we like guys and dolls, which i think has been on very successfully recently, and anything goes and things like that. and actually we don't really want to be challenged. we want to have a jolly evening with good music, well, i think everybody wants good music. everybody has different choices of what good music. but we have to next normal coming back that deals with mental health issues. the same as opening night. thrilling rock score. we have standing at the sky's edge, all about sheffield and council estates and the 80s fantastic music, rock music. we have hadestown that mixes up soul

spirituals a little bit of blues, new orleans, but it's about greek myth . amazing score. about greek myth. amazing score. beautiful, transformative. beautiful, transform ative. i felt beautiful, transformative. i felt like i was dreaming, so no, no, no, just write a good tune. >> excellent. that's the answer. thank you very much, stefan. write a good tune. that's a good thing for a musical. ford is preparing to cut the sales of petrol cars in the uk to try and hit our lunatic electric car sales targets, a move which is almost certain to push up prices for you. martin sander , the for you. martin sander, the general manager of ford europe, has told the financial times that the only way to avoid crippling fines is to divert the shipments of petrol cars elsewhere. ford is the first manufacturer to announce that they plan to reduce the sales of petrol cars to comply with these foolish measures. will they be the last? well, back to my panel and tesla. you didn't get in on the musical, so you can get in on ford instead. should we make a musical? >> that's the duff car. you know, i'm not allowed to give my curated cultural opinion on

london theatre and brexit, but you have dumped the petrol guzzling ford machine on my lap. what's surprises me is as a canny politician who's si king re—election, jacob, that you don't take a leaf out of the highly successful, unprecedented third time re—elected london mayor. and look at how he won his campaign on ulez on cleaner air for london, on the reality of living in a city where we breathe. we didn't really win on ulez. he really didn't win on ulez. he really didn't win on ulez. and allow me to explain that london pollution has come down. nitrogen dioxide in the centre of london by 65. right now, the airway breathing in it 65% improvement. it happens that way. you do it is to hit people in their pocket. >> the reason nitrous oxide went up so much was because the government pushed us. the labour government pushed us. the labour government pushed us to have diesel engines because they were obsessed by removing carbon dioxide. it was all part of a bonkers, environmental plan. >> petrol and diesel lead to

greater pollution and lead to climate change. petrol engines . climate change. petrol engines. are now extremely clean. i'm sorry you can't for one minute pretend that petrol is preferable to electric when it comes to pollution. >> much better. >> much better. >> this is all beside the point because this is all part as we know of. as you said, the general environmental plan, net zero, which is absurd for us. it's going to cost trillions, right? it's going to be so damaging for most people. and in fact , when you do, you know what fact, when you do, you know what our carbon emissions are globally in britain, what we are responsible for is something just it's like 0.9. meanwhile, china is 32, right? it's such a tired argument. >> it is. >> it is. >> it is the argument. it is the argument. right. and therefore what we do is of no consequence. but at the same time, what we're seeing now, particularly like in the case of these cars, is that essentially the government is trying to you know, basically

put legal limits on the market, for example, which is what this is about. it's utterly ridiculous. >> i don't know if you do your own grocery shopping , but have own grocery shopping, but have you been right? do you buy potatoes? yes i do, yeah. are you aware that they've almost doubled in price? they've almost doubled in price? they've almost doubled in price in 1976. and do you know why? because of global warming. because of even farmers believe in climate change today . believe in climate change today. >> because we had very high potato prices . it's sometimes potato prices. it's sometimes hard now. >> you sound like a nutter, jacob. no, i don't just once furious when there was a hot summer. >> summer. >> potato prices go up and down. that's the market. anyway, thank you to my panel. english cricket icon.the you to my panel. english cricket icon. the wonderful monty panesan icon. the wonderful monty panesar, who was always a joy to watch playing cricket because he seemed to enjoy it, has been stumped by political reality. after a week at the crease, he briefly put the world in a spin, but now he says he needs time to mature. as he quit, george galloway's workers party and headed back to the pavilion. i prefer it when cricketers are tories, so i hope monty panesar will join us in the conservative party in due course. anyway that's all from me. up next,

it's patrick christys patrick. what's on your bill of fare this evening? >> well, i went to an illegal migrant tent camp and spoke to them about why they came to britain, how fearful they are of the rwanda plan, and what their life has been like since they were actually rejected for asylum. that's at the top of the 9:00 hour. at the top of the 10 pm. hour is robert jenrick. p.m. hour is robert jenrick. he's smashing the latest myth about migration. >> that'll be very interesting. roberts. always important to listen to with very insightful thoughts into the british political situation . everyone political situation. everyone want to hear that. that's all coming up after weather. i'll be back tomorrow at 8:00. i'm jacob rees—mogg and this has been state of the nation and the weather in somerset. you know how glorious it will be. look at the skies behind me in the picture. that blue will be the blue in somerset. tory blue skies. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news . news. news. news. >> hello. good evening. it's

been another dry and fine day for many of us, and there'll be more in the way of sunshine to come tomorrow. and it should be a warmer day for most of us. however, cloudier skies are starting to approach the northwest as this weather front moves in. won't make too much progress overnight. further elsewhere across the country as high pressure is building in, so it should be a fairly clear and dry night for the bulk of england and wales. cloudier skies will affect parts of northern england, northern ireland and in particular much of scotland, where the rain will turn quite persistent across the northwest overnight. so quite a damp night to come. probably a damp night to come. probably a damp start to the day, but elsewhere it should be a bright and mild start to the day quite widely. temperatures will be in double digits by thursday morning. any mist, a mist and fog that has formed overnight should clear quite readily. it's most likely across coastal areas across england and wales, and that will give way to another day of long lived sunny spells. and it's going to feel warmer in that sunshine than today, and the sunshine should spread up and further north into northwestern areas of scotland, as that weather front pushes north. highs of 2223, possibly

24 degrees across central areas of england on thursday. again, there's a risk of mist and fog to start the day on friday. the sunshine could be a bit hazy first thing, but it should brighten up quite quickly through the day and i think most areas will see a day of long lived sunny spells. and once again , it's going to be feeling again, it's going to be feeling fairly warm. long live sunshine to come on saturday. a risk of showers on sunday, but temperatures are climbing towards 25 or 26 degrees. >> looks like things are heating up boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> it's 9 pm. i'm patrick christys tonight , right? christys tonight, right? >> everybody is scared about rwanda. everybody is not right about this. everybody say that it's not right . it's not right. >> i visit an illegal migrant camp. they are scared of rwanda. and. and you didn't like france?

france is no good. >> yeah . >> yeah. >> yeah. >> i don't know, like france . >> i don't know, like france. france are good. >> find out what happened when this man's claim was rejected. plus this myth to be debunked was that mass migration was an unalloyed good for the economy. >> and in the report, we've set out that that really isn't the case. >> robert jenrick bust the last myth on mass migration . myth on mass migration. >> also mp for dover natalie elphicke . elphicke. >> labour's shadow chancellor told the newest mp to f off and is a real thing. >> it's our birthday and invictus games foundation and we're all very excited and thrilled and given the state of the .world,there is so much more the .world, there is so much more to do . to do. >> waltz king charles right to snub prince harry. >> and what is the title of the first volume of cs. lewis's chronicles of narnia to be published chronologically? it follows the magician's nephew ,

follows the magician's nephew, c.j. lewis, the lion, the