this is bbc news. the headlines at 11:00pm: amid accusations that he is avoiding media scrutiny and allegations about his personal life, borisjohnson speaks exclusively to the bbc. the frontrunner to be the next prime minister insisted he could deliver brexit by the end of october. politics has changed so much since 29 march, and i think on both sides of the channel there is a really different understanding of what is possible. mrjohnson refused to answer questions about his private life, despite new pictures of him and his partner being published, and his opponent has criticised him for not taking part in a tv debate tomorrow. the conservative party will start to feel cheated of having a proper

leadership campaign if the front runner isn't prepared to subject himself to the scrutiny of tv debates. president trump imposes new sanctions against iran, as tensions continue to rise between the two countries. a man is sentenced to life in prison for pushing one man onto the tracks of the london underground and trying to do the same to another. and at 11:30pm, we will be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers, henry zeffman, political correspondent for the times, and rowena mason, deputy political editor for the guardian. stay with us for that. after facing days of criticism for avoiding media scrutiny, borisjohnson, who is running againstjeremy hunt to be the next prime minister and tory leader, has spoken exclusively to the bbc.

he says he would ensure a plan to deliver brexit by the end of october, declaring that the political landscape both in the uk and the eu has changed. but mrjohnson admitted he would need eu co—operation to prevent both a hard border in ireland and tariffs on british business if there were no deal with the eu. asked about the widely reported incident in the early hours of friday morning at the flat he shares with his partner, borisjohnson said it was simply not fair to talk about his family and loved ones. here is laura kuenssberg's exclusive interview with mrjohnson in full. borisjohnson, what boris johnson, what would you borisjohnson, what would you do on day one in number ten, to make sure we leave the eu at halloween? i would make sure we have a plan that will convince our european friends and partners that we are absolutely serious about coming out.

and the key things that you've got to do are to take the bits of the current withdrawal agreement which is dead, take the bits that are serviceable, and get them done. and that is number one, eu citizens, 3.2 million. they to be protected. you may remember, their rates should be enshrined in an unconditional way in uk law, number one. numbertwo, there is other things that you should do to make progress. with the bits of the withdrawal agreement that we have. i think the money is more difficult. i think the £39 billion as at the upper end of the eu's expectations, but there is. it's a considerable sum. i think there should creative ambiguity about when and how that gets paid over. the important thing is there should be an agreement that the solution of the border questions,

the irish border, the northern irish border questions, all those issues need to be tackled on the other side of 31 october, during what's called the implementation period. but the implementation period as it stands is part of the withdrawal agreement, and you said you wouldn't sign up to the withdrawal agreement, and it's dead. those things can't both be true? no, you are going to need some kind of agreement and that is certainly what i am aiming for, in order, as you rightly say, to get an implementation period. and i think, actually, that politics has changed so much since 29 march. and i think, on both sides of the channel, there's a different understanding of what is needed. the parties recognise their party space real danger of extinction, at the polls, and labour went backwards

at the last elections, unless we get exit over the line. i think there will be a real willingness to move this thing forward on the other side of the channel, obviously, where decisions will be made, where we need obviously for both to come together, they have now got 29 brexit meps in strasbourg, and they have the £39 billion that they are keen to get, and frankly, they also wa nt keen to get, and frankly, they also want brexit to be done and get over the line. they want it done in the eu, but they don't want it done at every cost, and time again, whether it is jean—claude juncker, president macron, any eu leader, they have made it clear there is no possibility without a backstop, so what evidence do you have you can get that through? no—one wants a hard border

in northern ireland, and indeed, nobody believes that it will be necessary. and so what we need is to hold that thought. it is what people want, but it is very different to what people may get. and make sure that we reach the solutions that are achievable, as both sides have said, as the commission has said, the facilitation that can be reached, make sure that we deal with the solutions to the irish border question, and indeed all other broader questions, because the irish border question in microcosm stands for all the other facilitation is around that. but how do you do that? because you are right, everyone wa nts a because you are right, everyone wants a solution to this. but if you wa nt to wants a solution to this. but if you want to be prime minister, you have to tell people how. you can'tjust wish it to be true. there are abundant technical fixes that can be introduced to make sure that you don't have to have checks at the border.

that's the crucial thing. you can raise the check for compliance. but they don't exist yet. well, they do, actually. in very large measure they do. you have trusted trader schemes, all sorts of schemes. but one single question, the irish border solution, there is no solution ready, right now. you're right, laura, there is no single magic bullet. but what there is is a wealth of experience, a wealth of solutions and what's changed now is there is a real positive energy about getting it done. parliament has voted three times against the backstop arrangements you rightly described, and presenting the uk and any uk government with this appalling choice of either being run by the eu while being outside the eu, which is

plainly unacceptable, or else giving up plainly unacceptable, or else giving up control of the government in northern ireland. well, you clearly wa nt northern ireland. well, you clearly want this to happen. there is a way forward which i think actually, to be fair, all the candidates in the conservative party leadership contest broadly endorsed, which was to change the backstop, get rid of the backstop, in order to allow us... the backstop, in order to allow us... to come out without this withdrawal agreement. and as far as i understand the matter, that is also the position of my remaining opponents. but boris johnson, everybody wants this to be sorted, of course they do, not least the public. but what you are basically saying is we will cross our fingers, because i think the situation is different, so we could get a deal done. you are not giving us anything concrete that actually suggests it is possible. no, that's not true at all, actually, laura. well, where is your evidence? there was a very good report just today by your evidence? there was a very good reportjust today by many others looking at the modalities of how to

do this. this is something that is —— has been worked on extensively for the last four years. there are plenty of checks you can do away from the border if you have to do that. without any kind of hard infrastructure at the border. but you know, do you accept, your plan would require agreement from the european union, political goodwill, and why do you think they would do that? if the uk had just walked away from a deal which has taken them three years to pin down. several reasons. first of all, don't forget, first of all they have the brexit meps, they have the incentive of the money, they also... you also have to understand, laura, that what has changed and what will be so different is that the intellectual capital that had been invested in the whole backstop had really come from the uk side. we were committed to it. we actually helped to invent it. we were the authors of our own incarceration. take that away,

change the approach of the uk negotiators, and you have a very different outcome. and if you can do that... different outcome. and if you can do that. . . and different outcome. and if you can do that... and simultaneously, of course, and you know what i am going to say, the other tool of negotiation that you should use, not only the incentives of getting this thing done, moving it over the line, getting the money across and all the rest, but you have the extra incentive, of course, that the uk will be ready to come out, as you know, on wto rules. and if you cannot get the agreement, it sounds like you are crossing your fingers, you are clear, you would take us out at halloween without a deal? an absolute guarantee? i think you have to be — of course, my pledge is to come out of the eu on 31 october. and the way to get our friends and partners to understand how serious we are is finally, i'm afraid, to abandon the defeatism and negativity that has enfolded us in a great cloud for so long. and to prepare

confidently and seriously for a wto oi’ confidently and seriously for a wto or no deal outcome. now, you've got to understand, laura, listening to what i just to understand, laura, listening to what ijust said, that is not where i want us to end up. it is not where i believe for a moment we will end up. but in order to get the result we want, in order to get the deal we need, the common—sensical protraction — thing to do is to prepare for a wto exit. as it happens, by 29 march, a huge amount of work had been done, and we had made great progress. there is still, as you know, some areas that need to be completed. some things, actually, where the level of preparedness is slightly less.

borisjohnson, would you really be willing as prime minister to face the consequences of no—deal, which could mean crippling tariffs on some businesses, uncertainty and the irish border, uncertainty for livelihoods and people's real lives. in the real world, as prime minister, i know you dispute how bad it would be, but are you willing to face the consequences of what a no deal might mean for the people of this country? in the real world, the uk government is never going to impose checks or a hard border of any kind in northern ireland. that's just number one. number two, in the real world, uk government is not going to impose ta riffs on goods coming into the uk... but it's notjust up to the uk. of course it's notjust up to us. it's up to the other side as well.

there is mutuality in this. we will be working with our friends and partners to make sure we have an outcome that is manifestly in the interests of people, businesses, communities, on both sides of the channel. and you think you could get that through parliament? you think you could get a no deal through parliament? well, i do. you've got to be very clear. i think parliament now understands that the british people want us to come out and to honour the mandate that they gave us. honour the mandate that they gave us. and i think that mps on both sides of the house also understand that they will face mortal retribution from the electorate. u nless we retribution from the electorate. unless we get on and do it. and again, what has changed since 29 march is that my beloved party is down 17 points on the polls. labour isn't doing much better. as i say, with superhuman competence, jeremy corbyn managed to go backwards in the recent council elections. people

wa nt to the recent council elections. people want to get this done, they want to get it done sensibly, they want to get it done sensibly, they want to get it done in a way which is generous to european citizens in our country. i stress that is the first thing we will do. and they want to get it done in a way that allows us to move on, which is what people are yearning for. they are yearning for this great incubus to be pitchforks off the back of british politics. they want us to get on with some fantastic things for this country. well, let's move on, because there's plenty of things we want to talk about. can you just tell us what happened at your partner's home a couple of nights ago?|j happened at your partner's home a couple of nights ago? i would love to tell you about all sorts of things, but i have made it a rule that i do not talk about stuff involving my family, my loved ones. there is a very good reason for that. and that is, if you do, you drag them into things that is not fair on them. but now you are hoping to move into

number ten, things are changing. does your privacy mean more to you than the public‘s ability to trust you? part of trust is being open, accountable and transparent. i get that, i totally get that. but my key point is the minute you stop talking about your family or your loved ones, you involve them in a debate that is — in a way that is simply unfairon them. you seem to care about your privacy so much that yesterday a photographer or someone with a phone just happened to stumble upon you in the middle of the sussex countryside. i mean, aren't you trying to have this both ways? i repeat my key point to you, which is that over many, many years, and you can look back at innumerable state m e nts you can look back at innumerable statements i gave when i was mayor and probably before, when ijust do not go into this stuff. there is a good reason for it, because what people want to know, is is going on with this guy?

when it comes to trust, does he deliver what he says he will deliver? well, let's look at that then. there are plenty of people, even in the conservative party who worry you do not stick to what you promise? well, they're talking absolute nonsense. when i was mayor of london, when we said we would do something, we delivered plus ten. you said you would keep our ticket offices open, you closed every single one. you said you would build affordable houses, you built my houses, but the definition changed. you said you would bring down rough sleeping and the number went up. we built more affordable homes than under labour. when you talk about the tube, we increased capacity on the tube by about 30%. it was the biggest investment in infrastructure that the city has seen. i pledge to reduce crime, we reduced crime by about 20%. we reduced the murder rate, which is a statistic that is

very difficult to talk about, we reduced by 50%. but why do you think, then, boris johnson, reduced by 50%. but why do you think, then, borisjohnson, people worry about your character? why do so many conservatives worry about you sticking to your word or being careless with the truth. i mean, you said a few weeks ago you would raise tax for the wealthiest in society. that became an ambition. you said you would lie down in front of bulldozers at heathrow and then when it came to nazanin radcliffe.... take radcliffe and the very difficult cases we have had with iran, of course people will want to point the finger of blame if they possibly can, but all that does is serve to exculpate, to lift the

blame, off the people who are really responsible, who are the iranian revolution regard. talk about overachieving in the foreign office. we were told that we had to orchestrate, and we did, and international response to the poisonings by russia in salisbury, and we thought you would be lucky to get 30 russian spies expelled around the world. in support of the uk, by other countries. we actually got 153 spies expelled. i don't think there has ever been a diplomatic coup like it. so don't worry what people say about me, worry about what i deliver. people are worried you are a bit scrappy with the truth or sometimes you seem to enjoy offending people. i don't enjoy offending people. if you are prime minister, do you think it would be acceptable to say

things like slim women in avail look like bank robbers, orforeign citizens are flag—waving pekinese. if you move into number ten, will you change? if you are lucky enough to be prime minister, will you be a different kind of politician? what i pledge to you, the people of this country want to hear, i will be a politician who sticks by what he believes in. yes, occasionally i may say things as i've said before that cause offence, and i am sorry for the offence i cause. but i will continue to speak my mind because i think people deserve to hear what is going on in my head. they deserve to hear my approach to things. and you talk about my commitment to delivery. actually, look at the difficult things i have taken on and done. nobody thought we could win in london, either in 2008, let alone in 2012, when the tory party was actually 17 points behind in the polls, and i overhauled that

deficit. nobody thought we could win the european union referendum in 2016, andi the european union referendum in 2016, and i played a role, with others, in getting over the line. why is it, then, do you think some people... nobody thought that the olympic games would be a huge success. i olympic games would be a huge success. i remember olympic games would be a huge success. i remember people writing m, success. i remember people writing in, saying it was all going to be a fiasco. but we are very much running out of time, but if all of that is... they were a fantastic success. my is... they were a fantastic success. my message about what i want to do, and forgive me, but i believe that we had amazing success when i was mayor of london in using infrastructure, education and technology, bringing the greatest city on earth together, and lifting people up across the city, closing the opportunity gap in london, giving people tools, whether it's better transport, better education, to ta ke better transport, better education, to take advantage of all the incredible things going on in this city. when i began, we had the six

poorest boroughs in london, after two terms, in the uk, when i entered, in london, there were none of the poorest 20 boroughs in the whole of the uk. the whole city came up, and it was people on the lowest incomes, who had been helped by our living wage, who had been helped by massive investment in public transport, who had been helped by better education. it was they whose life expectancy had gone up the fastest a nd life expectancy had gone up the fastest and whose wealth had also increased. we are incredibly proud of that, incredibly proud of that. but what i want to do now, if i possibly can, if i am successful in this context, and become a leader and prime minister, what i really wa nt to and prime minister, what i really want to do, is to bring our country together, which has felt divided, which has felt a bit directionless, which has felt a bit directionless, which has, i think, which has felt a bit directionless, which has, ithink, because which has felt a bit directionless, which has, i think, because of the failures of the political class, lost a sense of purpose and lost perhaps a bit of a sense of self belief, i want to bring this

incredible country together, and to release the potential of the whole of the uk. that's what i want to do. just one of the other people who was very closely involved in the olympics, of course, was your opponent, jeremy hunt. what do you make of your opponent? yes, and i pay tribute to jeremy and enjoyed working with him. but final question, what do you... in government, and who knows? i look forward to working with him in the future. i always invoked ronald reagan which is to say never speak ill of a conservative opponent. but wa nt wa nt to ill of a conservative opponent. but want want to do is to emphasise my basic message. which is to unite the country, brexit was... yes, it was partly about immigration, but it was also about huge parts of britain feeling that they didn't have the

same advantages, the same care, the same advantages, the same care, the same love, as london and the south—east. and that they were being a bit left behind. well, that's an economic mistake, it's a political and it's a social mistake. we need to bring the country together. infrastructure, education, technology, give everybody the chance they deserve. and you really think you can do that when some people see you as the most divisive politician? believe me, they said that in 2008, before i became mayor of london. the guardian, a highly reputable newspaper, ran a whole section in which people promised to flee the land, or at least the city, ifi flee the land, or at least the city, if i became mayor. eight years later, most of them were still there, many of them have gone on to work with me, and i had higher approval ratings by far when i left my office as mayor than when i began. and i ran london, yes, of

course i believe in the democracy of our country, and yes, of course, we are going to get exit done 31 october. but be in no doubt that, at heart, i am a centre—right, progressive, modern conservative. and i will govern from the centre—right and from the centre because that is where you win. that is where the broad mass of the people in this country are. you need an infrastructure, nhs, great education, to enable business to have the confidence to invest. and jeremy corbyn only understands one half of that. he is only interested in taxation and spending. he has no care, no love, no interest, for business and for the wealth creators on whom we all depends. and you have got to have that balance in your government. we will see if before too long you will

be able to make that case. thank you very much indeed. well, our political editor, laura kuennsberg, has given us her assessment of that exclusive interview with boris johnson. we learned quite a lot about what he would like to do about exit but with the emphasis on the like. he was not going to resuscitate theresa may's deal, that was clear, but he wanted to use some of the elements and discussions had over the last three yea rs discussions had over the last three years in order to move his plans forward. for example, he would pass a law immediately to protect eu citizens living in the uk but the controversial gamble he is putting forward is to say he could do a new deal, a new trade deal, the bones of that with eu leaders before the end of october that injust that with eu leaders before the end of october that in just three months that and he says he would be able to do that before resolving the biggest conundrum of all, how to fix the

dilemma over the irish border. he clearly believes he has the political skills to be able to pull that off and that is there. he and his supporters would say that is a plan but it is a plan full of ifs and barts, either heroic or foolhardy. —— butts. that parliament would be able to back his vision and back it by halloween, on an extremely tight deadline when political pressure is on, not to do it only quickly but to do it without harming the relationship with the rest of the world or the livelihood of people living here. in terms of the last few days, controversy around his personal life, it is absolutely clear that even now he is absolutely clear that even now he is a simile on the threshold of number 10, borisjohnson thinks there are questions he simply does not have to a nswer questions he simply does not have to answer and for a politician about whom many have doubt on his

character, that i think will still follow him around until and unless he is willing to give more. but they may well be conservative members and members of our audience tonight, listening to him, talking about defending what happens behind closed doors thinking that is at the right approach to take even though for some people there is no question he ought to be more open about exactly what has been going on. we will be talking about getting some reaction and looking at the papers without reviewers tonight. with our reviewers, henry zeffman, political correspondent for the times, and rowena mason, deputy political editor for the guardian. that is coming up after the headlines at 11:30pm. now it's time for the weather, with stav da naos. we start this week on a thundering note. high humidity. subtle changes in the middle part of the week. call for many. with north north—westerly winds. temperatures reaching 30 is

by the end of the week in the southern areas. tuesday starts off thundering. clearing away eventually. across central and southern areas, after the sunshine heavy thunderstorms. high humidity. further north, cloud stop not quite as warm. as we head through tuesday nine, it looks like many places turn bright. northerly winds beginning to settle in across the north the uk. still somewhat across the south about the humidity will be gradually easing as we head through wednesday. that's because we have high pressure building in from the north—west that will briefly bring us northerly winds. across england and wales. it will bring drier air. northern parts, and northern ireland and the

far north of england, could see 2a— 25 degrees. variable cloud for england and wales. quite cool across the east coast with that easterly breeze. high—pressure dominates again into thursday. showers are to the far south—west of the uk. brazier across the west country through thursday. north north—westerly winds. across the south. feeling cooler next to the north sea coast. the best of the temperatures and sunshine across south wales and the south—west of england. we could see 26 degrees and that should feel quite comfortable with the low humidity. by friday, still a few cool spots across the east coast. temperature is beginning to build in the south—west. into the weekend, resurgence of that heat and

humidity from the near continent. most noticeable across southern and southeast areas with temperatures reaching 30 degrees. with high unity it will feel quite unbearable. a cold front moving of the atlantic would spark heavy showers and thunderstorms across the north—west. further south and east, largely dry, muqqy further south and east, largely dry, muggy day with sunshine at times and temperatures into the low 30s. starting to cool down across the north—west and as it does, further showers and thunderstorms developing mainly across the northern half of the uk. the cold front moving in, the uk. the cold front moving in, the red colours and away to the near continent. cooler of the atlantic. as we go beyond next weekend and at the start of next week, it likely atla ntic the start of next week, it likely atlantic will take over with fresher, cooler north north—westerly winds. we should see some sunshine as well.