I held him in the very highest regard because of what he gave to me. They gave me my england debut and set me on the road, and i will never forget that. Its 5 oclock. Our main story is the latest twist in Donald Trumps confrontation with the heads of americas Intelligence Agencies. Mr trump says the director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, called him last night to condemn a leaked report claiming the President Elect was vulnerable to blackmail by russia. But mr clapper has said hed made no judgment on whether the report was reliable and he rejected mr trumps suggestion that Us Intelligence was responsible for the leak. Our correspondent Christian Fraser has the latest. Eight days from now, donald trump goes into battle as the next commander in chief. But never before has an incoming president been warring on so many fronts. This morning, as is now the norm, he began the day with a tweaked in fa ct, began the day with a tweaked in fact, what mr clapper told reporters is that he had expressed dismay happily text appearing in the press, which he said was extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security. In the quoted comments, he gives no view on the veracity of the report. Not you, not you. Corrosive as a word that could equally be applied not only to any lea k equally be applied not only to any leak but to the relationship between the President Elect and the agencies on Witches Offers will depend. The President Elect and the agencies on Witches Offers will dependlj think on Witches Offers will depend. think it was disgraceful, disgraceful that the Intelligence Agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fa ke that turned out to be so false and fake out. I think it is a disgrace. And i say that, and i say that that is something that nazi germany would have done and did do. That is a disgrace. The dossier they were investigating was an open secret. Journalists had been working on it for months. It is a tale of sordid sexual escapades, russian espionage multi Million DollarCash Payments funded to the trump campaign. The question for washington insiders is whether it is fact, part fact or pulp fiction. And was the leaking of the document political . I think it is deeply misguided for anybody at any level to question the integrity and motives of the patriots who serve in our intelligence community. It doesnt mean they are always right, but questioning their motives is another thing altogether. The man who first compiled the intelligence is 52 year old christopher steele, a former british spy who worked here. He is now in hiding with his wife and children, in fear of his life. Mr steele had worked on the russian desk at mi6 for 20 years. In the 90s he spent time at the British Embassy in moscow. More recently he had been hired to gather information on mr trump, first by republicans and later democrats. The allegations he uncovered were handed to the fbi. But with nothing to support them, the media steered clear until a two page summary was handed to President Obama this week and mr trump himself. As early as last summer, there were reports circulating that the russians had tapes. Whether or not the sources were telling the truth, we wait to see. But these allegations are being treated as credible by the Us Intelligence community. Evenif even if there is no film, mr trumps presidency might already be compromised, not only by his dealings with yesterday he ceded control of his Business Empire to his two adult sons, but in the eyes of the Ethics Committee in congress, there is not enough distance to absolve him of any conflict of interest. In short, there are more questions than answers and no amount of tweeting from the President Elect, will shift the clouds that are circling next weeks inauguration. And theyre not be formal Confirmation Hearings taking place on capitol hill while all this has been going on. And had been formal Confirmation Hearings. Some of the biggest positions in the administration, including the head of the cia. The director has been talking today and he has been striking a very different note to mr trump. Lets listen. Let me begin by saying that i am confident that the Central Intelligence agency will play a role in this administration, providing powerful intelligence and Decision Making inside this administration. Im confident the President Trump will not only accept that but the man that from all the Men And Women in the cia and other intelligence communities. Personally, i have come to understand the value of the Central Intelligence agency. I have seen their morale through tough times when they have been challenged before and i have watched them what through fire to make sure they did theirjobs in a professional way and that they were always aimed at getting the truth, in depth, and in a robust way. I have every confidence that not only will i demand that but they will continue to do that under my leadership if i am confirmed. Our correspondent Barbara Plett is In Washington. Fairto fair to say that there are Conflating Stories . What are we supposed to make of that . Conflating Stories . What are we supposed to make of that . I think mr pompeo is differed from trump and how he speaks of the Intelligence Agencies. Strong endorsement in face of trumps scepticism. Mr pompeo knows that senators are worried about this but also that the cia itself is suffering from poor morale because they are not used to being criticised in this fashion. They ta ke criticised in this fashion. They take pride in their work and they do not see themselves as politically partisan. He knows that they were waiting to hear him say this. As the cia leader, he has to be seen to be defending them. When we look at the broad narrative of the last couple of days, and we see where we are today, with this exchange again between James Clapper and today, with this exchange again betweenJames Clapper and donald trump, can you reach any conclusions about the allegations we have heard . I dont think we can reach any conclusions about the allegations that were in the dossier, which mr clapper himself said the caa or the Intelligence Agencies had not determined whether they were reliable or not. Mr clapper tried to mend fences by Calling Trump last night and seeing it was definitely not his spies that lead to this. Mr trump seems to have felt mollified somewhat if you look at his tweets today, but it is still quite a turbulent season. In terms of the hacking, there is more of a line coming out in agreement that the russians did this. Mr trump acknowledged that yesterday. Mr pompeo was stronger. He said it was unequivocal that the russians had hacked and that it was aggressive moves from the senior leadership. He said the needed to be a robust response. In an interesting exchange, he said it was probably correct to assume that mr putin was feeling successful about his attem pts feeling successful about his atte m pts to feeling successful about his attempts to disrupt american democracy. And there was a swirl of speculative a few minutes ago after Marine Le Pen was apparently spotted in trump tower in new york. Can you bring us up to date about what has been said over that . We knew that she was there because the Pool Reporter took a photograph of her but she declined to comment on why she was there. There is a journalist on the site who has just said that a trump spokesman said that she is not meeting with mr trump or his team. We do not know why she is there. We may find out but thank you for now, barbara. Sir Malcolm Rifkind is a former chair of the intelligence and security committee, hes in our westminster studio. Thank you for coming in. If you were in the Foreign Office today, what would you be focusing on . What has been most significant today is the extent of the support from the new head of the cia, and rex tillerson, distance and then distancing themselves from President Trump. Berkeley to make sure they get through the nominating process but also it suggests that they will be perfectly willing to be independent in the way they conduct the affairs of the Department Of State and the cia. That is encouraging but it also demonstrates the unprecedented abbess between the president and those whom he is supposed to command. Because what is your sense of the likely coherent of a government of those divisions are they . It is deeply disturbing because on domestic policy you will have a president who thinks he knows the answers to economic and trade policies and will not be particularly interested in the advice if it conflicts with his views or prejudices. But when it comes to Foreign Policy and Nuclear Weapons and these type of issues, i think mrtrump weapons and these type of issues, i think mr trump knows personally well that he needs advice. And if we are already seeing, if todays evidence continues, which is not certain, but if these nominees are going to be much more independent than many feared, then trump will either have to a cce pt feared, then trump will either have to accept their advice, which he will not like, or ignore it which would be even worse. And from your time as the chair of the intelligence and security committee, i was wondering what you made of the way that the row developed over the intelligence reports, as it was cold, although some people say that it isa cold, although some people say that it is a former report, containing those rather limited allegations . Your thoughts on that process and how damaging it might be . M your thoughts on that process and how damaging it might be . If this had been an episode of the west wing we wouldve said, it is great theatre but it could not have possibly happened in the wheel world. In the real world. What happened yesterday was unprecedented but it was not the allegations themselves. Trumps problem is that although these allegations may be com pletely although these allegations may be completely untrue, such is its reputation that perfectly reasonable people are prepared to accept that they might be true. Such was the overdrive of his response, to compare the cia and the Intelligence Agencies of his own country, which is about to take control of, as being like nazi germany, i mean that shows a degree of emotional incoherence and incompetence of a kind that is deeply disturbing and a person who is going to be president of the United States a week from now. In eight days time, absolutely right. At the heart of the Foreign Office and downing street, what strategy will they be trying to lay out, looking at the likely development of the Trump Presidency in the first three months . development of the Trump Presidency in the first three months . I think what they will seek to do, lets assume that mr tillotson is confirmed as the new Secretary Of State. And mr pompeo in the ceo. I think their United Kingdom cou nterpa rts think their United Kingdom counterparts will be able to develop a reasonably constructive relationship with them, and the contact with the president will be reserved for the prime minister. She is due to see him and quite rightly she will do her best to develop a proper, serious relationship. It will be easier in the case of the right to United Kingdom because for various reasons trump is will this post to the uk, and he will be short of allies elsewhere. My guess is that it will be a corpulence discussion but none of us actually know and this is all speculation at this stage. We have never had to indulge in this degree of speculation eight days before a breezy is president has taken office. A previous president. Breezy is president has taken office. A previous president. So martin ripped conveyor, the former mp. Sir Malcolm Rifkind. And in the next half an hour the outgoing Us Ambassador to the uk Matthew Barzun will be here. We were asking about his thoughts on what is going on In Washington and new york. Snow and strong winds are expected to cause disruption across much of the uk over the coming days as the met office warns the country will receive a Real Taste Of Winter. Scotland and Northern Ireland are already seeing plenty of snow. Schools have been closed and theres a warning about ferry services. Heathrow airport has cancelled dozens of flights this afternoon, and engineers have been working to reconnect power to homes in the north of scotland as well as in cheshire, yorkshire and cumbria. Daniel boettcher reports. Heavy snow has already hit many parts of scotland, up to 20 centimetres in places. With warnings of more to come combined with high winds. Eight Polar Air Masses bringing freezing conditions. It has caused problems on roads and police say there have been minor accidents in the highlands, while in central scotland, the m71; was closed for a time and traffic remains slow. There had been heavy snow showers in parts of Northern Ireland and wales, too. The Weather System is continuing to move further south. The local Government Association says that councils are well prepa red Government Association says that councils are well prepared for low temperatures and more snow. We have had some light snow on high ground which we are dealing with at the moment but we have managed to get some salt on the network, so that has helped. The movement of traffic has helped. The movement of traffic has helped. The movement of traffic has helped us to deal with that issue. Preparations are also being made for potential flooding as communities along the east coast of england are being warned of a combination of guilt force winds and ice. Some residents are being told to move possessions out of danger. 100 soldiers have been deployed in lancashire to help residents of skegness. And the expectation of more poor weather to come has already led to a number of cancelled flights at Heathrow Airport. In a moment, we will go to Heathrow Airport and speak to our correspondent frankie mccamley. First to the m1 near luton and our correspondent ben ando. Bring us up to date on conditions there. It has started to snow quite heavily here in the last 45 minutes. While you might be able to see Snow Settling on my staff, on my scarf, it is not settling on the motorway behind me yet. Traffic is flowing reasonably well. This is the southbound Carriageway Heading towards london. The reason for that is that it is not yet that cold. As the ground gets colder, that will assist things. Also, the movement of the vehicles themselves manages to stop the snow from settling. Nonetheless they are controlling the speed of vehicles here with a variable limit. That is to prevent the surging and bunching that can cause accidents, especially when grip is compromised and the cars and lorries start to slip. At the moment, the vehicles are still moving because the snow is not settling. Thank you very much. Lets go to frankie at heathrow. What is going on there . This morning, we we re going on there . This morning, we were told that at Heathrow Airport 80 flights had been cancelled. The court say that they wanted to give passengers time to be able to move on to other flights or time to completely change their plans. Also, this airport behind me runs at full capacity, so when the snow falls it means that operations on the ground ta ke means that operations on the ground take much more time. So delays, there is no room for delays at heathrow. Speaking to other airports, gatwick has had to cancel five flights already. Birmingham, manchester, edinburgh, they all say that business is as usual. If you are going to travel this evening, the advice is to check with your Airline Operator before you travel. A lot of people are being offered flights at other times or complete refunds. As you can see, the snow started falling, it started falling in the last half an hour. As for the disruption, how bad it is going to be, that depends on how much