he also decried the use of strongman politics, in his most high—profile speech since leaving the white house. on the front page of the daily telegraph, british pm theresa may narrowly avoids another challenge to the brexit plan, this time saved by four labour mps. in the japan times, we've got the massive trade deal betweenjapan and the eu. the paper says the free trading zone will account for roughly 30% of the world's gdp. and finally, staying with free trade, check out this story in the ft. a survey in china has found more than half of chinese consumers would boycott us goods in the event of a trade war with washington. so let's begin. with me isjoseph sternberg, a columnist from the wall streetjournal. let's and stuck in. the washington

post giving us its take on donald trump, who says he now accepts intelligence on russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. soa in the 2016 presidential election. so a dramatic u—turn from donald trump following the helsinki meeting on monday. yes, and letting the problem is that donald trump does not seem to understand that sometimes when you are actually the president of the united states instead of a new york river state developer you do not get a do over on these things. so it has been remarkable the negative reaction to the press conference in helsinki. —— real estate. even from some of donald trump's conservative supporters in the us. i don't think this statement will walk that back. i then you can bring some of these bells. what he said was that it was a word that he meant to use, that he

didn't use it, and played that he was saying that actually there was not russian interference, but now he is suggesting there was. as you say, it is just such a tricky scenario that here straight to get himself out. interesting given that many thought he would go back to congress and asked this way through. that is in we are familiar with. —— that he is trying to get himself out. yes it is trying to get himself out. yes it isa-- is trying to get himself out. yes it isa —— it is an is trying to get himself out. yes it is a —— it is an unconvincing expedition. any world leader needs to be of the say clearly what you mean, even in a relatively high pressure scenario. mean, even in a relatively high pressure scenario. it is important that you clearly say what you mean after a meeting with the president of russia. i mean, the relations between the us and russia are at a real low, and, obviously, the ongoing investigation into russian —

the alleged russian interference in the alleged russian interference in the election was the background music the entire time. as in confidence goes, this was a really astounding performance. ithink confidence goes, this was a really astounding performance. i think that not just that one astounding performance. i think that notjust that one allegedly missing word but the total failure to raise a whole range of difficult issues in that meeting. the washington post also talks about the fact that he floated without evidence the possibility that actors other than russia may have been involved in the election interference. in this issue of who and what happened in 2016 that led to this election will hang over this presidency, won't it, until the next time comes around. this is not going to go away. the robert mueller investigation is

still ongoing. i think an unhelpful pa rt still ongoing. i think an unhelpful part of this personality and this is this tendency to view these issues solely through the lens of how it affects donald trump. because you can believe that there was russian meddling in this election without necessarily having to believe that there were —— that they were explicitly trying to bring him in. and he can't admit that without somehow saying that it delegitimise as his victory. and barack obama is on the homepage of the independent. he was speaking yesterday in johannesburg to mark the 100th anniversary of the both of nelson mandela. he had a lot to say. this article in particular talks about how he hits out that strongman politics. i wonder who he is referring to. it is a sort of thing we re referring to. it is a sort of thing were a lot of people are going to cheer this. i wonder how helpful it is. i think the traditionally former us presidents have understood that

they need to tread carefully when they need to tread carefully when they come out on issues of the day because, you know, that he was the sitting president went donald trump was running for election, so here's a participant in the political ecosystem. and sometimes weighing in in this way might be an unhelpful distraction. that he has done it before. when he was here at the uk before. when he was here at the uk before we had our referendum on staying in the european union, he weighed in significantly on the debate about the uk's decision, saying that the uk could be at the back of the queue if we decided to leave the european union in terms of trade with the us. and many thought that was unhelpful. that is right. and i think that is true especially with donald trump's comments. but given the white house administration that we have at the moment... yes, it requires enormous self—discipline. i think barack

0bama self—discipline. i think barack obama has been pretty good about that since leaving office. let's have a look at this story about brexit in the daily telegraph and the other papers in the uk, which all focus on theresa may avoiding another defeat just by a all focus on theresa may avoiding another defeatjust by a whisker, two days in a row, on pretty significant amendments that were mooted by various parts of the party. these were amendments they wa nted party. these were amendments they wanted to say that the uk would have to bea wanted to say that the uk would have to be a part of some sort of customs union arrangement if we were not to come up with a deal by the end of january next year. give us your take on this latest brexit twist, as it were. what is striking, especially to me, is — as an outsider observing this in britain — just how difficult it is for those in brussels and around the world to work out how to navigate the process when it is so

difficult for the uk government is a wooded is looking for. i think that asa wooded is looking for. i think that as a consequence of the fact of the fa ct as a consequence of the fact of the fact that the referendum was very binary but there were a wide range of outcomes that were lurking within that result. do you think that she will last? i think that in order for her to leave people would have to find some alternative that they can agree on. and i do think there is a tendency to unfairly blamed theresa may for the fact that there is this broader disorder in british politics as members in parliament are trying to fill their way through this very unclear result. she is walking a very difficult tightrope. and so far she has stayed on at. there are serving to be set so that if nothing else. we get to the japan times and a story that we looked at yesterday, with japan and the eu completing a massive trade deal. both sides are talking about how significant it is and how great it will be for the eu and how great it will be for the eu and forjapan. i was looking at this

and forjapan. i was looking at this and wondered if this was a blueprint for the uk. i think that the bigger story free trade is continuing, there are people who understand the importance of that. deals are being done... deals are being done. the us is being left behind by a lot of this which is a major problem. i think the concern for britain has too big will britain have the hat to negotiate a deal of this quality from outside of the eu? 0ne criticism of the eu before the referendum was the difficulty for brussels to strike this kind trade agreement. we are discovering that when they are sufficiently motivated they can. and also for the uk outside of the eu, its relationship with japan is so important. so many big factories in this country, carmakers, based in the uk. they are japanese and the japanese are quite worried about brexit. that is right. a big, getting back is that as the

eu strikes more trade deals, what becomes britain's role in that after it leaves? i think that the good news here is that there is a political will and lots of parts of the world for free trade. the challenge for the us is how do you keep from opting out of that and the challenge for the uk is how do you stay within that. we shall talk about this challenge tomorrow again iam sure. about this challenge tomorrow again i am sure. joseph, thank you for coming in. and thank you to you for your company on the briefing. we will see you soon. hello there. well, depending on how you look at it, some lucky gardens have received some rainfall during monday and tuesday, but the vast majority of the country on tuesday was dry with plenty of sunshine around, some

glorious sunset scenes up and down the country. there were a few heavy showers around across northern scotland. this is a weather watchers view looking out off the coast of peterhead, with some downpours there across the water. these showers will continue to fizzle out during the early part of wednesday and then, generally speaking, most places will end up being dry first thing. variable amounts of cloud, some clear spells. quite a warm one across southern areas, but across scotland and northern england, a few chilly spots there. certainly outer towns and cities. to wednesday, starting off on a larger dry note. again, for most places, it's going to be a dry afternoon as well. shower clouds will bubble up across northern and western areas, and like tuesday, some of the heaviest ones could be across parts of scotland. maybe in the north and the south, somewhere here at risk of seeing a thundery downpour. maybe a few showers for northern ireland and a few

as well across western england into wales, but the vast majority will be dry. plenty of sunny spells with light winds. it's going to feel a little bit warmer than it did on tuesday. across england and wales, generally around 23 to maybe 26 celsius in the south—east, closer to 18—21 celsius for scotland and northern ireland. 0n into thursday, another largely dry day once again, good spells of sunshine and it is going to feel a bit warmer as well, but more of a breeze and cloud picking up across scotland and northern ireland ahead of this weather front, which will be slowly moving south its way eastwards. notice the deep orange colours building there across england and wales, temperatures will be significantly higher than how we started off the week, with perhaps one or two places in the south—east totalling 29 or 30 celcius. now, this is the weather system i was talking about. a tangle of weather fronts mixed

in with it, it will bring more cloud, outbreaks of rain to the north—west of the uk, slowly sinking its way south eastwards, but it will be a weakening feature. more cloud across the northern half of the country with outbreaks of patchy rain into northern england and wales, weakening as it does so, but then we could see maybe a few heavy showers moving into the south—east from the near continent. some of these could be thundery, so you have to keep tuned to weather forecasts. good morning. welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. 0ur headlines today: the tories in turmoil — another tough day for theresa may as she prepares to face down her backbenchers on brexit. donald trump backtracks — the president admits he mis—spoke about russian interference in american elections. the sentence should have been, i

don't see any reason why it wouldn't be russian. sort of a double negative. the 12 thai boys trapped in a flooded cave for 17 days are to be discharged from hospital today. when we buy