for the uk. good morning. will will greet puzzle that has will great puzzle that has been hanging over us all for so long, are particularly important day for good or ill for many years to come. boris johnson didn't have a smooth early

start. a fractured family, always on the move. deafness as a small child. but he was always ferociously ambitious. reportedly telling his sister rachel, when he was five, that he wanted to be world king. he was schooled and prepared by elite institutions, eaton and oxford. from there to the world of national newspapers, he survived scandals to become a conservative mp, then mayor of london twice, and he surprised eve ryo ne of london twice, and he surprised everyone by becoming leader of the official brexit campaign. this thursday could be our country's independence day. it led to downing street. if not world king, then perhaps the best britain can offer. we succeeded in betting against the

plaque and nerve and ambition of this country. they will not succeed today. we in this government will work flat—out to give this country the leadership it deserves. and that work begins now. and so, a new thing. we have new kinds of information, we have the speech borisjohnson gave, information, we have the speech boris johnson gave, we information, we have the speech borisjohnson gave, we will talk about that later on, and a huge number of cabinet changes. with me is laura kuenssberg, political editorfor is laura kuenssberg, political editor for the bbc. this is not just a new cabinet but a new government. borisjohnson has said that more than half of the top table politicians are out. some people,

who our viewers may not be that familiar with, dominic raab, for example, a true believer, effectively now the deputy. he is foreign secretary. michael gove, boris johnson's old foreign secretary. michael gove, borisjohnson‘s old compadres foreign secretary. michael gove, boris johnson's old compadres from the referendum campaign. also, the chancellor of the duchy of lancaster, a posh name for boris johnson's fixer in chief. so plenty of people trying to achieve his number one aim, getting us out of the eu, whatever happens, by halloween. and surprisingly a brutal number of sackings as well. we used to talk about the night of the long knives in 1962, but that makes that look like fiddling around with nail scissors. this has been the afternoon of the big giant acts, never mind knives. should we be surprised by that, when boris johnson has spent his life breaking the rules? should we be surprised

when he has always been so determined to cast himself, real or not, as a different kind of politician? i'm not so sure. one main question i have is that is a new government and one in a hurry, because he knows he might not have that long to make it work. 92,000 conservative members have given us not just a new conservative members have given us notjust a new prime minister, but a new government and a new agenda. where do you think it is going to go next. very fast, a sense of acceleration. i think in the next couple of hours we will see people like amber rudd, a well—respected person on the remains side, stay in herjob. matt person on the remains side, stay in her job. matt hancock person on the remains side, stay in herjob. matt hancock i think is likely to stay at health secretary. but i think time will be of the essence. the problem for boris johnson is there are some conservatives, and perhaps some of oui’ conservatives, and perhaps some of our viewers will say thank goodness, someone our viewers will say thank goodness, someone willing to make decisions. but there has been some unpleasant seeds sown in the house of commons, where he barely has a majority. yes,

some of that may come back to cause him problems. coming up, a hard look at our prime minister and the two biggest challenges he now faces. he didn't start as a politician, but as a journalist. this contains flashing images. the man who has been an acerbic commentator on so many previous prime ministers is now premier himself, something he always pretended was an out —— outlandish proposition. borisjohnson en boris johnson en boris johnson, borisjohnson en borisjohnson, not a lwa ys borisjohnson en borisjohnson, not always an accurate forecast. he is his hair, he is his... but most of all, he is his words. this is a

divided country, there are many people who regard him as charismatic, hilarious, and essential antidote to the pomposity of modern politics and a great tonic in dark times. i want you to consider this kipper. there are others who regard him as a disgrace, a user of racist slurs, the watermelon smiles, letterboxes, beginning his — and a nonserious man in difficult times. well, we have all got him now. we have to think beyond the clowning and dig a little deeper than the media clips. much of the public regards him with distaste or disapproval. but almost nobody who knows him well thinks that he is

stupid. i have got to go and give a speech in a minute, i'm looking forward... at his more outrageous, the language was often designed to divert attention, to distract, and done with a cheerful, knowing complicity of many journalists. we haven't had a story all week, you've got to help us, say something ill considered. i am speaking with unvarnished common—sense. considered. i am speaking with unvarnished common-sense. but while journalists can use vivid language to win readers, politicians are in a different category entirely. for them, loose phrasing can cause real damage. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe is in jail in iran damage. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe is injail in iran for spying. johnson said wrongly that she had been teaching peoplejournalism, words used against her by the tehran authoritiestalk can ruin lives.

still, borisjohnson authoritiestalk can ruin lives. still, boris johnson is authoritiestalk can ruin lives. still, borisjohnson is perhaps the only celebrity politician in the current conservative party. who is going to be britain's next prime minister? now... we all know it is going to be you, boris. whatever charisma is, he has got it. the very word boris puts a smile of anticipation on many people's faces. a blithering idiot... year after year at tory conferences the real star of the end of the pier show was borisjohnson, tories star of the end of the pier show was boris johnson, tories queued star of the end of the pier show was borisjohnson, tories queued to hear him. what do you do with a problem like boris? politics can be quite dreary a lot of the time, but he never has been. and, like much of his life, this was more strategic and planned than it sometimes seems. you are just trying to upstage the prime minister, aren't you? he knew that the route to leadership of the

party was through the members. our by our, jock bojo, year by year, he tickled them, hugged them, and won them around. —— hour by hour, joke byjoke. them around. —— hour by hour, joke by joke. this is an unrepeatable opportunity for us to take back control. borisjohnson again in an unpublished article he wrote in the same month making the case for staying inside the eu. he was only trying to clarify his thinking, he

explained later, but in that article he also said that leaving would cause an economic shock to britain and might lead to the breakup of the united kingdom, things that worry his critics even today. still, he made his choice, and in putting down his chips so firmly on the brexit site in the political war over europe, he gave himself leveraged. it is really why he is where he is today. after his divorce, his sackings for defeat, all the embarrassments that would have twice sunk most people, this is a remarkable triumph of resilience, ambition and pure ego. in a word, what kind of prime minister do you think he is going to be? and exciting one, i think, think he is going to be? and exciting one, ithink, is think he is going to be? and exciting one, i think, is the way to describe borisjohnson. exciting one, i think, is the way to describe boris johnson. he exciting one, i think, is the way to describe borisjohnson. he won't be

standard identikit, istick describe borisjohnson. he won't be standard identikit, i stick by the message of the day type politician. and i think the public has come to wa nt to and i think the public has come to want to go away from this robotic politician who repeats the line they are given and doesn't seem to be able to respond to questions you might give them on a more human basis. therefore i give notice that borisjohnson is elected as leader of the conservative party. now he finally has the job he has always wa nted finally has the job he has always wanted and thought he deserved. immediately, he has to confront two enormous co— joined problems. the first is getting britain out of the eu by the end of october, as he has repeatedly promised. in june, remember, he told the tory hustings that the chances of us leaving with no deal are1 million that the chances of us leaving with no deal are 1 million to one against. since then, he has closed off most of the alternative options.

despite a strong anti—no deal feeling in the house of commons, johnson has ruled out any delay and any fudge. which leaves only two possibilities. either the eu, confronted by the wit and charm of borisjohnson confronted by the wit and charm of boris johnson crumbles and confronted by the wit and charm of borisjohnson crumbles and gives britain an entirely new deal. in life, everything is possible, but they say absolutely not, and there is no sign of them flinching, or we are heading straight towards no deal, something boris johnson are heading straight towards no deal, something borisjohnson seems to be accommodating himself towards. still a million to one possibility against, now? really boris? there is nobody alive who actually knows what nobody alive who actually knows what no deal would feel like. on the one hand we have people saying that britain can easily whether this. on the other hand we have those experts, the industry and economic

voices warning us of a really serious blow to the country. no, no, says serious blow to the country. no, no, sastohnson. but serious blow to the country. no, no, says johnson. but here serious blow to the country. no, no, sastohnson. but here he faces his second imminent crisis. he has virtually no parliamentary majority and a bitterly divided party. senior ministers, led by the outgoing chancellor, philip hammond, are determined. no deal. chancellor, philip hammond, are determined. no deallj chancellor, philip hammond, are determined. no deal. itherefore intend to resign. last week, mps voted to make it tougher for intend to resign. last week, mps voted to make it tougherforjohnson to effectively lock up parliament to ensure no deal doesn't happen. it is a pretty rum idea — suspending parliamentary authority in order to save it. without the votes, what else could he do? he might use labour rebels to get the deal through, and some have told him they would help him. but other pro—

europeans are utterly determined to blockjohnson in parliament. boris johnson becomes prime minister with a wafer thin majority. one that could fall further next week at the by—election. there are mps in parliament working together in order to be able to secure a people ‘s vote and stop brexit, because brexit is not in the interests of our country, and that arithmetic hasn't changed. of course, there is an obvious answer to this. if the parliamentary numbers don't work for you, change the numbers. boris johnson could call an early general election, exploiting the publicity and momentum of his leadership campaign and relying on zest, vim and optimism to deliver this. simples. but, boris johnson and optimism to deliver this. simples. but, borisjohnson has also ruled that out, describing it as

absolute folly. would it be in fact? across the country, the conservative family has broken in two, with many supporters now turning to the rival brexit party. i tell you what is amazing, we shouldn't be fighting these elections, we should have left... ifjohnson had an impact, allowing the brexit party to run in some and not others, he may then get a proper majority. it is hard to know what conservative values are any longer to have conservatives happy to leave with no deal of the truth may will be that there is an alliance on the remains site, a leave or remain type of election. let's wait and see. but

yet again, boris johnson election. let's wait and see. but yet again, borisjohnson has more or less ruled this out, agreeing with the question a conservative hustings of the tories and the brexit party do not share the same values and no agreement is possible. we believe we should do deals with any party to —— we don't believe. in almost every direction throughout the contest, johnson has pulled up no entry signs. no to the backstop, no fudges, no delays, no pack. so it seems that every obvious way forward has now been blocked the man who will be our next prime minister. either borisjohnson will be our next prime minister. either boris johnson has will be our next prime minister. either borisjohnson has some plausible and so far undisclosed plan which no interviewer has yet been able to extract from him, perfectly possible, or else there is a danger that he and we are heading for the most tremendous smash. but

what about beyond brexit? if we can think beyond brexit at all. what kind ofjohnson will the country get? i generally think that boris johnson as prime minister is the same we got as mayor of london. open—minded, progressive conservative. i don't think you win a cosmopolitan city like london being anything other than a liberal progressive. the type of boris you will get is prime minister is somebody who empowers people to get on with thejob. somebody who empowers people to get on with the job. and, of course, there will be building. he has a lwa ys there will be building. he has always had an enthusiasm for grand show often pricey projects. the boris island airport off the thames. the garden bridge, that strange curved object over the olympics, a land bridge within scotland and northern ireland. more seriously he has made some substantial points. he

said that life after brexit would lead the british to recognise that our problems are not caused by brussels but by chronic british short—term —ism and underinvestment in human and physical capital and infrastructure. all true. though very different in tone from his believe in britain rhetoric of recent days. for all the millions of words that borisjohnson has published, it is curiously hard to work out his core political philosophy. but one thing is you read and watch is absolutely clear. this is a man who believes that if you say something forcibly enough, it is so. willpower and belief are all? and in dark times it is a philosophy that she is up many people. but out there beyond the small london street there is an entire world of hard unyielding unsmiling and uncomfortable facts. borisjohnson, i unsmiling and uncomfortable facts. boris johnson, i give unsmiling and uncomfortable facts. borisjohnson, i give you fact.

fa cts . borisjohnson, i give you fact. facts. i give you borisjohnson. but just for the time being, let's take all the predictions about boris johnson with a huge pinch of salt. he was a popular mayor and he will try, at least, to win over the critics. we, in this government will work flat out to give this country the leadership it deserves. and that work begins now. thank you very much. one prediction i will make. what is ahead of us now is going to be the most extraordinary episode by far in the already extraordinary political era we have all been living through. and so, to guide us through these extraordinary times, laura is still here and faisal islam, our economics

editor. i will speak to him in a moment. but first hour europe adler joins us from deepest bavaria. there has been talk from borisjohnson in his speech about the new deal he wa nts to his speech about the new deal he wants to strike and assist and still while he does it's as. is that possible? eu leaders were listening carefully to his speech today and they like it? they did not but they will not rush in front of the cameras to say so. will not rush in front of the cameras to say so. we did hear from one prominent member of the brexit steering committee in the eu parliament who described it as irresponsible that borisjohnson was trying, he said to use the threat of ano trying, he said to use the threat of a no deal brexit as leveraged. but when they listen to all the things that they set about brexit in his speech, eu leaders were not surprised and to be honest they looked at the speech today more as a rallying cry and borisjohnson's domestic audience rather than aimed at them. i spoke to a high level eu

figure who said that they are choosing to ignore, at the moment, the bullying tone that mrjohnson was using also on the campaign trail. so far they are only hearing slogans and they are waiting to hear some substance. in the meantime, what eu leaders are doing, just as we are, is looking at the make up of the cabinet and seeing who his closest advisers would be. they want clues as to exactly what is brexit strategy could be once his veto under the table. i am speaking to some in the eu who now say they think they know deal brexit is nigh on inevitable but i would not say that the eu has given up on a deal. we know that eu leaders want brexit with a deal. borisjohnson knows that as well but he seems to think that as well but he seems to think that if he makes a credible threat of no deal they will give up and give in. the danger is that he overestimates the flexibility to he is right. there is more wiggle room around that brexit deal than eu leaders have wanted to let on so they could changes to the backstop,

for example, if dublin says so. but they certainly will not be getting rid of the backstop unless there is something concrete on the table. so we are hearing the redlines from borisjohnson. we we are hearing the redlines from boris johnson. we know we are hearing the redlines from borisjohnson. we know the eu redlines very well. what we don't know this evening is whether they mightfind know this evening is whether they might find somewhere, a meeting point in between, this autumn. thank you very much for that. those redlines, they will not be enough for borisjohnson. redlines, they will not be enough for boris johnson. let's redlines, they will not be enough for borisjohnson. let's talk more about his speech because it is full of interesting hints and details, there will clearly be an expansionist taxcutting budget in the autumn. even before he stepped into number10, the autumn. even before he stepped into number 10, there was a minute or so where it seemed like he had gotten the first lord of the treasury debit card out and was spending it on 20,000 police, that is about a billion. 20 hospital upgrades, the going rate is a couple hundred million. social care, we're

talking billions. so yes but that reflects the political reality of the austerity fatigue. but it is not just fiscal policy. maybe he will have to tweak or abandon the fiscal rules in terms of using the space to deficits are lower than they have been over the last ten or 15 years so you could run two percentage points higher without scaring the horses. are gangbusters economy. he change the governor of the bank of england and change fiscal monetary policy? there will be a new governor. fortuitously timed because if you really want the economy to be supported you need the help of the bank of england. going back to a catcher said, there is a fundamental point here about saying that we are brexit battle ready. it is not all in the prime minister's hands. when the department talks about the likes of being ready or prepared for brexit, it does not mean that all

the disruption has been eliminated. it means it has been mitigated. the important thing is to get business ready because they have not taken up signing up to various customs programmes that they need to, essentially to stop these potential delays at the border. a huge chunk of the speech was about a no deal brexit. i mentioned it in the film there that the possibility of lease ofan there that the possibility of lease of an early election to some people wa nt of an early election to some people want a referendum as well. in your view laura, do you think there will be an election this year? not if he can help it. most people around him do not want there to be an election until they have been able to get us out of the eu and say to the public that has been ticked off the list. isa that has been ticked off the list. is a because of the brexit party? certainly part of the reason, that's great and plenty of tory mps think that as long as brexit is dangling around a not yet achieved, their votes will be squeezed and gobbled up votes will be squeezed and gobbled up by votes will be squeezed and gobbled up by the brexit party. but do not rule out an election in the spring or, if things get so stuck in parliament that he has no choice.

without a parliamentary majority, a real parliamentary majority, it is ha rd to real parliamentary majority, it is hard to see how any prime minister, nevertheless one like borisjohnson with a clear agenda, will survive. it is hard and it is important to understand the numbers are so against him and the numbers are actually tighter for him than they were for theresa may because various people have defected to the pitiful we look at is the numbers, what you don't take into account is the alchemy of any political leader for good orfor ill, leadership matters and who was standing at the dispatch box as prime minister can make a difference. and with all the specs switching around in terms of the cabinet, the baddies have become the goodies and the goodies become the bad is. and that could make a big difference in parliament. am i sniffing a kind of new error of authority and discipline around westminster in these first few hours of boris johnson? he made some enormous dramatic decisions. some people will think he has gone nuclear and is power crazy already.

other people will think well, we have three years of drift and stagnation. thank goodness, finally we have someone ready to shake retrieved. laura, i want we have someone ready to shake retrieved. laura, iwant to we have someone ready to shake retrieved. laura, i want to ask you about the union. as i mentioned, borisjohnson about the union. as i mentioned, boris johnson says about the union. as i mentioned, borisjohnson says in his speech that the union is important to him. when he was writing the article arguing against leaving the eu to clear his mind he made a point that leaving the eu may break up the united kingdom and there are many people in these countries who feel the same today. absolutely. and that was the view of theresa may. you put the union in a precarious position with no deal. borisjohnson says that he supports the union but certainly, and in scotland in particular, there is a real difference in how he is viewed by big chunks of the population. so there is no question that nicola sturgeon will, as she does, make the opportunity presented to her that borisjohnson tends to be popular in

scotla nd borisjohnson tends to be popular in scotland —— struggles to be popular in scotland. other party struggle as well but there is a real belief that this whole situation of volatility does potentially put the union on the table again. notjust here but maybe in northern ireland as well. you raise northern ireland because the dup are strong supporters of the conservatives at the moment but many of their business backers and people trying to run business, thinking about no deal in northern ireland, are beginning to think it would be such a terrible thing if it was an all irish economy instead? all of this serves to unlined the precariousness and unstable situation that we are in. —— all this serves to underline. people are looking at the situation and wonder what is next and i think that is the right question for all of us to if you think you feel a bit tired from the rollercoaster of politics over the rollercoaster of politics over the last few years, the next six to nine months may be even more full of

twists and turns. a white knuckle period ahead. what does he have to do to win business over in the short term? he has the rhetoric. he has the gift of the gab. the detail is what matters. laura mentioned the backstop. he wants to junkie. what matters. laura mentioned the backstop. he wants tojunkie. but what is actually going to happen on that border? he did promise in downing street that there would be no checks on the border but the debate, as i understand it, with the republic, is now about where checks occur anywhere within northern ireland because, frankly, if we have to support a customs officer in parts of belfast, is that not just equivalent? so that is difficult. on the trade deals that they have even tried to roll over from the european union with other countries, detailed. will he get the detail or will he just put it out to his ministers? perilous and absolutely extraordinary times ahead. laura,

faisal and kutcher in bavaria, thank you to all of you. what an extraordinary day it has been. the borisjohnson era extraordinary day it has been. the boris johnson era has extraordinary day it has been. the borisjohnson era has begun. good night.

welcome to newsday on the bbc. i'm ben bland in london. the headlines: borisjohnson strides into downing street to start life as britain's prime minister and signal a fresh approach. it is time to change the record, to recover our natural and historic role as an enterprising, outward looking and truly global britain. inside number 10 — he begins building a new team to deliver brexit, promising to succeed where theresa may failed. i'm rico hizon in singapore, the headlines: fresh concerns over north korea — two projectiles are fired into the sea towards japan as kimjong un's pictured alongside