week, the rocky trump bolton relationship is over, but where does that leave american foreign policy? and the british prime minister who called the brexit referendum in 2016 brea ks called the brexit referendum in 2016 breaks his silence on the current crisis. with friends like this, who needs enemies? my guests today agnes pourier. irish broadcaster brian o'connell. thank you to you all for being here. president trump says he sacked his national security adviser. john bolton said he resigned. twitter was going with the territory but these two had much bigger disagreement in the 17 months in whichjohn bolton served in the administration. iran, russia, north korea, afghanistan. so let's take stock of american foreign policy

three years into the trump administration. mina, why don't you started off with my successes, triumphs, victories, defeats. well, trump's foreign policy is yet to be determined because as you said, bolton is out as national security advisor t is not the first. we have been through a succession of officials. it is clear that donald trump once to run his own foreign policy. but we are still not clear what that policy is beyond his belief in maximum pressure. whether it is on iran or north korea, threatening them with war. 0r then offering the carriage, then the stick, and the carrot of the meeting. beyond the meeting, it is not really clear what can happen. for the time being it is clear there is possibility of it opening up and talking to around. but about what? iran prop's problems. their actions in the region, continue as they are,

whetherjohn bolton is national security adviser or not. so while in the region we look with interest about who are the main players who are influencing the president, it really is at the end of the day what present once a do to clinch a deal. do you agree? is about the present's personality and he ran as an isolationist. john bolton's of days has to be numbers because he is interventionist and quite an aggressive one. i could never understand how that was going to work. supposedlyjohn understand how that was going to work. supposedly john bolton understand how that was going to work. supposedlyjohn bolton was going to be there as a force for american influence, but what the present regards as an american influence is his personality. he thinks of going for meetings, whether it is with north korea or with iran, he can somehow through personal magnetism change or alter the situation. and he gets his photo shoot with —— national leader, and then nothing. because he doesn't understand the complexities of foreign policy. so who on earth is

going to intervene tween him and his owi'i going to intervene tween him and his own narcissistic view of his personality to create a coherent foreign policy? greenli personality to create a coherent foreign policy? green i think any deal or talk you are having with his administration may or may not last andi administration may or may not last and i think that before that bipartisan worldview of america is so bipartisan worldview of america is so far removed from the reality we are facing today. there isn't that same thing of actually wanting the meeting with the president, because that can all be turned over. what about you, agnes, because it is obviously a man who sees himself as a great deal—maker, he wrote a book on it, and yet do you agree with janet and on it, and yet do you agree with janetand mina on it, and yet do you agree with janet and mina that this personal touchis janet and mina that this personal touch is not really working with mike yes. i completely agree. the m1 got the news alert that bolton had been sacked? i thought, well, got the news alert that bolton had been sacked? ithought, well, 0k

thatis been sacked? ithought, well, 0k that is good news. but actually when you think about it, because i say this because it is very mawkish, because when he came into the scene 17 months ago we closer to a war with iran or strikes on north korea, but actually, for all his faults, he isa man but actually, for all his faults, he is a man of conviction. you can deal with him in a way because you know what he is thinking. there is —— there are clear directions. we might actually be in a more dangerous world now he has left. and it is a bit, you know,... will hear to talk about us foreign policy, is there such a thing? there is this man who worked on impulses, there are no directions, so there is a tweet in the middle of the night followed by a spectacular u—turn, and his semantic debasing of the english language talking about rocket man.

then for the photo op, he meets with him. that is what he thinks is reality. he has no sense of geography or even less of foreign politics. you hold your breath until november 2020 or another for years. agnes is missing john bolton, something i never thought i would say. brian, are you? or something i never thought i would say. brian, are you? 0ryou something i never thought i would say. brian, are you? or you looking at the piracy of venezuela or iran and say that there are aspects of maximum pressure that were unconstructive? i agree with janet but i think that it is somewhere in between the two. 0n the one hand, trump has kept out of iran, he has kept out of syria, he wants to get out of afghanistan, that would be electorally very popular to bring the troops home. but there are people like mitt romney and mitch

mcconnell and those guys in the republican party that say that the taliban will be back in there, it will be a base for terrorism again, we will have to start all over again. yes, we have had an 18 year war, but what donald trump probably as janet says, probably doesn't get, is that to get the deal in north korea you have to do more than just step over the line and back and you just need more than just a handshake on tv. you need to say, ok, we will doa on tv. you need to say, ok, we will do a phased denuclearisation. with iran he will have to soften some of the sanctions before he gets anything in return. but he doesn't something like that going into the election next year. obama was an isolationist two. his withdrawal and failure to act in syria has had horrendous cut consensus ——

consequences for that region. america has noise been torn between isolation and aggressive intervention. this is a long arguing. i do think they are intervening in syria and iran, even if it is not boots in the ground, it has become so unpopular. the reality is that there are joint controls between american forces and the turks. 0n iran, there are sections not only targeting iranians revolutionaries guard, but there are proxies in iraq, lebanon. the impact of sanctions on lebanese banks today is bringing his ball to before. —— is bringing his ball to before. —— is bringing his brother to the four. worrying and polarising for a reason thatis worrying and polarising for a reason that is so tense, in a weight is

clear that 0bama's policy wasn't talking about the other problems that regions suffer from. i think that regions suffer from. i think that while we can criticise him, and ido that while we can criticise him, and i do criticise a lot of trump parts mike foreign policy. some of the developments are outside of america's control. and by doing some things mean that they can have some control. benjamin neta nyahu things mean that they can have some control. benjamin netanyahu is facing his second election this year in israel, he desperately needs to get his majority, he has threatened to an what is a third of the west bank, the jordan valley, to an what is a third of the west bank, thejordan valley, and he has actually said that donald trump says it is ok. it will actuallyjust... the americans, jared kushner, is expected to deliver his new middle

east peace initiatives shortly. whatever is in that, but it has certainly closed down any chance of a two state solution. two on the question of the grand bargains or the grand different attic triumphs, what has happened to that deal of the century in the middle east we we re the century in the middle east we were expecting? it seems that in some areas they are moving ahead without an actual deal. for example the declaration of jerusalem without an actual deal. for example the declaration ofjerusalem is the capital israel despite all of the us counterterrorism resolutions. despite the world's anger about it, it still went ahead. the fact that you america is taking unilateral steps ahead with israel, is trying to create facts on the ground. you cannot ignore it. you are only exacerbating the situation. the deal asa exacerbating the situation. the deal as a deal, you have the envoy who was supposed to be delivering the deal, he has announced he is resigning at the... in a few weeks. he will be out of the picture and

what we are going to see is rather than a document which is what the americans promised, we're probably going to get bits of unilateral is that won't bring us closer to a deal. lets go back to the question of what and who makes abhorrent policy —— foreign policy. who makes the policy? nobody apart from trumper. simply because they come and go. in north korea you have to work. you have to work long time. the agreement we had with a rental 12 years i think and it was such a joint exercise between europe and russia and iran and the us. which was impacted mostly by ryan, that is the problem with that. yes, it had everybody accepting the deal. they are the sponsor of terrorism that

region. you might it was never a perfect deal, but i have no sympathy with the iranians regime but i have sympathy with the iranians. that is the good thing with the agreements we have. it is impossible. as we have said around this table. if president trump is going to achieve some foreign policy successes, he presumably needs a narrative about what is foreign policy presumably is. where is it going to come from? is it going to come from china? from russia? elections are not based on foreign policy. it will be economic policy. it will be economic. it will be how well the economy is doing. he

needs to appeal beyond his bases as everybody keeps saying. he needs to appeal and overcome the problem of his personality, which is what attracts his base but repels everybody else. i do not how he is going to do that. the trade war with the chinese pub we has more impact than anything we have talked about so far. and so the handshakes on the korean demilitarisation zone and so on, do they play into the us election in a useful way? does it matter that as you have all agreed, there is not enough going on behind those symbolic gestures? it does matter. but president trump is very aware of the power of tv and for him it is getting it on prime—time television and getting the handshake with world leaders. i think afghanistan will have made the big difference. he can say that they got out of there and ended america's

longest war. he isn't going to be able to deliver that. why mackie wa nted able to deliver that. why mackie wanted to deliver that but... the way the talks with the taliban went where that they were undercutting the afghan government, and were all the afghan government, and were all the criticism of the current president, they are the government thatis president, they are the government that is recognised by the world. the fa ct that is recognised by the world. the fact that president trump's envoy decided to ignore that government, photo ops, tweets, the reality was that they wouldn't give them a copy of the agreement. they could look at the agreement and then hand back the agreement. again, with everything we have said around the table, they are going to have to come around the table and actually have all of the leaders. not to choose one favourite interlocutor, and then think you can deal with them and force everybody to a cce pt deal with them and force everybody to accept it. so there was no peace

in afghanistan to coincide with the 18th anniversary of 9/11? there is a un general assembly this week, a lot of people in new york for that. is this an opportunity for the iranians, the chinese, the north koreans, the russians to look at donald trump, may be hungry for something that looks good to his domestic base and think, shall we meet with him? shall we do something? is an opportunity for anybody? that is the nature of the assembly and the un. don't forget, the g7 meeting when the iranians suddenly appeared on the tarmac. president macron and the europeans are trying to do something to ease the sanctions and convince president trump it is the way forward. they

are pushing for a meeting with other leaders. this may happen, and it will be a moment of satisfaction for some, but then, two hours later it went be the same. it is very strange to talk about these things that have such a impact. and on that thought we will leave it. something that is both ephemeral and in drawing now, brexit. just when you thought it couldn't get wilder, mps were protesting the suspension of parliament in the house of commons, and a court declared that the suspension was unlawful. there was no signs of a brexit steel with europe and instead a government document warning that a no deal exit might bring shortages of public disorder. the tory prime minister who quit after reading the winger losing the —— losing the 2016

referendum. janet, you started off here. take us through this week we have just seen. does here. take us through this week we havejust seen. does it here. take us through this week we have just seen. does it matter what david cameron says? it does in the sense that it absolutely confirms what he has said now stop it absently confirms what most of us suspected all along, he had absolutely no idea of why people voted leave in that referendum. he seemed to think —— he called a psychodrama for the tory party. millions of labour supporters voted for me, and a great many people who have never voted in an election voted for leave. this wasn't about the tory party and it wasn't about him. it wasn't about was johnson iva, it was about a principal, self—governing, immigration came into it, but i honestly think that immigration was a token, a symbol of the lack control stop what the democratic principle that you can vote, you can let the people who make your laws, that was the lesson.

and instead of taking that argument head on, david cameron and george osborne led that remain campaign, instead of making a positive case for staying in the european union, and sacrificing some of our own sovereignty, they traduced and insulted and patronised everybody who wanted to vote leave. and the consequence of that was tremendous bitterness and a tremendous alienation on the part of people who felt that in genuinely sincerely they wanted to leave the eu for what they wanted to leave the eu for what they considered principled reasons. that was a tragedy for david cameron and the consequence of it has been that they have had tremendous bitterness. it has distorted beyond recognition. because there was no a cce pta nce recognition. because there was no acce pta nce of recognition. because there was no acceptance of the fact that they had to bea acceptance of the fact that they had to be a legitimate arguing. there had to be a debate. i don't want to spend too long into thousand 16 and in david cameron's book. brian, do disagree with that?|j

in david cameron's book. brian, do disagree with that? i think to say that immigration came into it is to skate over what the core issue. when you say that turkey is going to join the eu, and nigel faraj has a big poster which says that breaking point and use words like swamp when britain was a member of the eu and had a veto over who joined the eu, britain was a member of the eu and had a veto over whojoined the eu, i can that is stretching the truth. bearing mind that the conservatives have disassociated themselves from nigel farage. i suppose the point that david cameron was making was that david cameron was making was that it was a false premise. as i might hang on, there were a few over premises thrown around in what consisted of the debate. 0ne premises thrown around in what consisted of the debate. one was that there was going to be huge job

losses. the economic growth that was coming was going to seize up. are you saying it is going to cancel each other out? they said if we voted leave we would have to have an emergency budget. voted leave we would have to have an emergency budgetlj voted leave we would have to have an emergency budget. i don't want to spend too long on 2016. that had been discussed on this programme quite a few time. just one of a point on cameron, agnes, will you deal with the question that a former prime minister suggests that the current prime minister left the truth at home. they have been questions over boris johnson's character in the scottish court of session as we have just said, they ruled the prorogation of parliament unlawful on the grounds that the message was knocked the accurate message was knocked the accurate message on why they were proroguing it. is this going to hurt boris johnson? we have moved beyond that. it is nothing we don't know already.

he is promoting his book and doing interviews and he is on the cover of the times saying he has failed. fine, but we have moved on. he might still be stuck in 2016. we are not, we are stuck in september 2019. the countdown is ticking. no, for all of us, europeans and the british, what is going to happen? it looks like it is going to happen? it looks like it is going to happen? it looks like it is going to... the two weeks we just had, ifeel is going to... the two weeks we just had, i feel the tactics is going to... the two weeks we just had, ifeel the tactics have shifted. when you think that on monday borisjohnson shifted. when you think that on monday boris johnson is shifted. when you think that on monday borisjohnson is doing what he should have been doing right from the beginning in august, he is going to meet the eu presidentjean—claude jean—claude juncker at long last. i have hope for that because he

doesn't need the du p. all of the roads lead to belfast. he has lost a majority, borisjohnson, roads lead to belfast. he has lost a majority, boris johnson, he roads lead to belfast. he has lost a majority, borisjohnson, he doesn't need the du p anymore. it's interesting, we are going back to things we discussed here to years ago. that is to say, making northern ireland part of a customs union or putting the border on the irish sea, and it was on the table. brian, let's hear from you on this. and it was on the table. brian, let's hearfrom you on this. prime minister did see the irish by minister did see the irish by minister this past week, are you hopeful that things are shuffling in the way of a deal perhaps via dublin, but ultimately in brussels, and you have only got a minute as helmy was it is a bit more hopeful thanit helmy was it is a bit more hopeful than it was. i think the expression being used is the landing strip. the landing strip is narrow and it is far away and time short. the landing strip is, as agnes says, around the

northern ireland backstop. the du p are still important, but there is quite a way to go simply because borisjohnson has put on the table food, food security and cheques and everything else, is an all ireland issue, but that only amounts to one third of everything that happens across that border. it amounts to a big chunk... so it is necessary? is nowhere near what will be needed.” just want to inject a optimistic point. there has to be a deal, they will be a deal, because the economic realities always trump political ideologies. the economic reality is that the economy would tank, germany is already in recession,... island would be hit worse. ireland would be hit worse. germany don't want to go

into serious recession. there are regions of the mediterranean where there are 40% unemployment rates. this is not a time to give up and say we haven't reached a deal. that is the point that borisjohnson campaigned for. he said i will take it out of the eu with or without a deal. that is as though a no—deal brexit was actually a feasible and good option. he came to power saying he would take is out of the eu come what may, and now he can't. in some ways, there is some optimism or realism that you have to do the tough work of getting a deal. do you mean he can't, for the economic reasons that chances talking about, the ones that we have seen in the document setting out the worst consequences of a no deal, do you mean he can't for political reasons, constitutional or legal reasons, or because parliament said he can't miss you like the reality he also

the conservatives coming out today are more important than david cameron or boris johnson. today are more important than david cameron or borisjohnson. the british public are hearing from various voices now. philip hammond, the former chancellor... it is a huge political problem as well. it isa huge political problem as well. it is a huge problem for borisjohnson, number one, over whether he can get re—elected on a promise that it make ta ke re—elected on a promise that it make take another few months, and re—elected on a promise that it make take anotherfew months, and can it get through the house of parliament? it is going to frighten people away from nigel farage's brexit party. they'll be greatest threat to the conservative party. nigel farage put himself in a corner and has said that only no deal is acceptable. he will not accept anything us that. he cannot reverse it. that is going to help borisjohnson.

cannot reverse it. that is going to help boris johnson. it looks like nigel farage is pushing you towards... agnes, a last word on this? it is pretty hopeful around this? it is pretty hopeful around this table for a deal. the eu doesn't want to get the blame for brexit. they never wanted brexit in the first place. and also, i think british mps are so exhausted that they will work to pass legislation. they will sit an day and they will pass that legislation. we will see. that is the view from the panel here this weekend. we are back next week. same time next week. goodbye for now.

hello, there is quite a bit of fine weather to be found across the uk today. and a lot of sunshine still to come for england and wales. faultless blue skies, particularly the further south you head. the reason there's more cloud as we make our way further north is because of an area of low pressure. this curl of cloud here sitting back out towards iceland. through the course of the afternoon this cloud will thicken across northern ireland and scotland. there has already been some rain in north—west of scotland, i anticipate that will turn heavier and more persistent through the second half of the day. perhaps some rain eventually drifting into south—west of scotland early evening before reaching northern ireland as we get into the evening properly. top temperatures — 15 or 16 celsius in the north, 23 to the south. as the rain arrives, a bigger problem perhaps could be the gusty wind.

through the evening and overnight a risk of gales or severe gales for the northern isles with gusts of perhaps 65 mph for a time. clearing skies across scotland overnight but the wind stays strong enough to keep our temperatures up. the weather front slides south, that will sit across northern ireland and northern ireland bring some rain on and off but a lot of it petering out for a time. now, it is a cold weather front behind it. chillier air coming in from the north—west and that will become most notable i think by sunday afternoon. also the chance of another pulse of rain comes along the front during the day. a little bit of a question mark over where we will see the heaviest of that rain. southern scotland through to perhaps the midlands and north wales, the areas most likely to get the wet weather on sunday. brighter for northern scotland but look at the temperature difference to the that north of that front. 15 degrees in the north, perhaps 25 or 26 degrees further south. however, we are going to even our playing field as we move into the new working week. the cold weather front

slides south on monday. high—pressure starts to build so that will kill off most of the cloud and rain. but for all of us, a little bit of a plunge into chillier air. we get the ambers, the warm air to the south, into the yellow, and eventually, for some, the blue. a little bit of a feel of arctic air for a time on monday and tuesday. high—pressure building, light winds and a lot of weather, some decent sunshine, but look out for a couple of chilly mornings throughout the first part of the week. it does look like it will get milder later on.

this is bbc news i'm geeta guru—murthy. the headlines at midday. fighting back —— former prime minister david cameron accuses boris johnson of acting ‘appallingly‘ during the 2016 eu referendum campaign. the liberal democrats conference kicks off in bournemouth — with the party set to decide whether to back a promise to ‘scrap' brexit. liberal democrats are crystal clear. we wa nt liberal democrats are crystal clear. we want to stop brexit so if we find ourselves in a general election that will be our unequivocal message and ifa will be our unequivocal message and if a liberal democrat majority government then we shall revoke article 50. a major fires breaks out at two government—owned oil facilities in saudi arabia after reports of a drone strike. african leaders pay their respects at the funeral of the former zimbabwean president,

robert mugabe — who ruled over