countries for with the three countries for continuing to hold out hope for the iranian anti—nuclear deal. continuing to hold out hope for the iranian anti-nuclear deal. although in fairness, he didn't inform a lot of people in america as well secular he informed the salaries and israelis, so it is interesting. the first among equals is clearly not the case. at the same time, boris johnson was usually showered by praise from donald trump all the well through, while donald trump was incredibly consistently rude about theresa may and other politicians, like angela merkel and others. so we are in this awful situation now, at the same time slobbering to a trade deal with the america in which the assumption is that the brits, no matter want trump does, will feel unable to criticise anything he says ever. so would you agree that boris johnson is on a bit of a dilemma? and we will hear from him tomorrow at prime minister's questions of.”

think it is quite clear that he sort of walking a very narrow tight rope, really, in terms of responding to this site because obviously they've made some noises about the fact that don't completely disagree with the decision to take this particular general out, but not in kind of the bullish terms that donald trump has done it. you're absolutely right, that even now we are about to start these brexit trade talks, there is considerable pressure on the prime minister to considerable pressure on the prime ministerto begin considerable pressure on the prime minister to begin talks with the eu in the us, because we see those as being our biggest markets. we know that donald trump is incredibly thin—skinned when it comes to world leaders, particularly those who are critical of him. look at what happened to the absolute brilliant moment when he was over here during the nato summit, they were all giggling about him behind his back, and his response to that was very... and he feels very comfortable with dictators, like vladimir putin — those sort of people who are

authoritarians, whose company he quite likes to keep. so forjohnson, it's just quite likes to keep. so forjohnson, it'sjust going to quite likes to keep. so forjohnson, it's just going to be incredibly difficult. it's the one area post brexit where the brits were com pletely brexit where the brits were completely in aligned with the french and the germans. we may be out of the eu, but we will be a central part of europe, which in my view is a fantasy. but the one thing they hold onto it as a security relationship with the french in the germans. and if the brits are going to effectively weaken that, then there's really nothing else for our european partnership. of course boris johnson's argument is european partnership. of course borisjohnson's argument is he's letting his ministers do the talking, the masters... we wouldn't have seen theresa may do that. in any devil medic situation that she

faced during her tenure, any devil medic situation that she faced during hertenure, she any devil medic situation that she faced during her tenure, she did not shy away from those big moments at the dispatch box. she could have easily dispatched gavin williamson at the time, but she didn't, she spent a lot of time at the dispatch box dealing with foreign affairs and very serious devil medic issues. you know much better than i do, that is not just the arithmetic know much better than i do, that is notjust the arithmetic but know much better than i do, that is not just the arithmetic but the atmospherics have completely changed, from having had theresa may and fora changed, from having had theresa may and for a few months, borisjohnson having had a very disputations, confrontational parliament with every vote on a knife's edge, it he now has a completely compliant parliament that will basically let him do whatever he wants. let's move onto the telegraph. they have put back on the front page will stop eu warning over rights for citizens after brexit. caroline, i assume this is in the context of the fact that not only will borisjohnson be

atp that not only will borisjohnson be at pand that not only will borisjohnson be at p and q's tomorrow, but he's also meeting the european commission president tomorrow? that is the beginning of the discussions about the next phase of our relationship. so we have pretty much a bank the idea that we are now leaving on 31 january, we have to see that bill go through the house of lords before that can happen. but pretty much it is dead set, we are now leaving the eu on 31 january, and now all of the focus is on what that future trading relationship will look like. in the discussion on that begins with the visit of michel barnier, who and i'iow. . . visit of michel barnier, who and now... and that is the precursor to the story, this letter which was apparently written to the prime minister just apparently written to the prime ministerjust before christmas, basically raising fears about whether or not we will water down

the rights of the eu citizens living in this country after we left the european union. it is really interesting because as much as there has been raging arguments about how we leave the eu, lots of efforts to stop that from happening in the last pa rt of stop that from happening in the last part of three years, trying to get that withdrawal agreement through an agreed — the one thing there is loads of consistence about in parliament is actually protecting the rights of citizens on both sides. and that is one thing that has not happened. we don't know the shape of those arrangements, and thatis shape of those arrangements, and that is people living here as well as brits living abroad in the eu. and that has been a massive sticking point, even though there's been broad consensus and lots of statements of positive from the government that we will enshrine those rights, but it hasn't happened. so nothing has agreed to anything at the moment? apart from the fact we are leaving? apart from the fact we are leaving? apart from the fact we are leaving? apart from the fact that we are leaving, which will happen definitely on 31

january. ineffectively what ever may be agreed has to then be ratified by the other 27 parliaments dashed and effectively. it must be done by the summer, effectively. it must be done by the summer, we are not even effectively. it must be done by the summer, we are not even talking about 31 december. we've only got a few months to go through real life decisions, and this kind of thing com pletely decisions, and this kind of thing completely affects so many people and their lives. brits in spain, what happens to their insurance? every decision affects the hundreds of thousands of brits, italians, germans living abroad. there are so many individuals caught up in this and they are no closer to clarity and they are no closer to clarity and they are no closer to clarity and they have at any point in the last three and a half years. moving onto the ft, this is a story which actually features on several of the front pages, but we will pick it up the ft. now this is about neil woodford. now you will remember that

he is the fund manager whose whole fund is shouting because of what the ft calls chronic underperformance, or perhaps those are the daily telegraph was backwards. but now according to the ft, he and his partners have shed £14 million in dividends. i'm not surprised it is anchoring trapped investors with yellow of course, he has been seen, and the ft has been on top of this story for weeks and months. he was seen as story for weeks and months. he was seen as the untouchable. for people who are older may remember the fictional character gordon gecko in wall street, who was seen as the great investment manager. you put your money with him and he will sprinkle start dust... but what comes up comes down. and all the great financial crashes going back

to the 1920s and ponzi schemes, going back to everything are always based on people who fly too close to the sun. so it went up and it crashed, and the money was stuck there, people could not withdraw their money. meantime, according to their money. meantime, according to the ft and other papers, just as this whole thing was underperforming, he and partner stuck out huge amounts of money for themselves. it mentions trapped investors in the ft, and that is because many people who invested in his fund can't actually get their money out at the moment, can they? and that is what will cause this huge uproar about this, which is that these are people who have obviously invested in these funds who perhaps used their life savings, and they can't get their money. yet you can see the people who were basically being accused of mismanaging those funds basically

benefiting. and we see this time and time again with collapsing companies and funds that it is always those at the very top who seem to come out smelling of roses, and those at the bottom, the customers end up losing out. and it goes very much against the social grain at the moment, you know, that sort of get—rich—quick mentality of the 19805—90s, which also spread into the 905. it mentality of the 19805—905, which also spread into the 905. it doesn't feel like that now, so i'm sure you've covered this in the last few day5 you've covered this in the last few days the story of richest ce05 in the equivalent of some of these annual earnings inju5t the equivalent of some of these annual earnings in just a few days. that just feels particularly egregious at the moment. let'sjust finally return to the telegraph, and there are pictures of harry and megan markel on the front of papers. thi5 megan markel on the front of papers. this is caroline back on the royal

beat, they went to the canadian high commission to thank them, because they've had this extended break in canada, haven't they? lucky them! this is their stress busting break to canada. we all need one of those. six weeks. six weeks? that's lovely, amazing. but they've had a fairly stress—free time the rest of the royal family has had slightly less ofa royal family has had slightly less of a stress free time, with even the queen talking in her royal speech at christmas, her address about the kind of tumultuous year that they've had with prince andrew and all the other things that have happened this year. so lucky then, they come back all nice and relaxed. there coming back energised and excited? absolutely, wouldn't we all be after six weeks? i've been back a few days andi six weeks? i've been back a few days and i think i need six weeks. let's leave it there for now, hopefully we can talk about ben stokes a little while later. that's it for the papers this hour. john and caroline will be back at 11.30pm for another look at the papers.

thank you both for being here. the headlines are coming up next on bbc news, right after the weather with tomas. while the bend has been in the weather headlines today across northern parts of the country and the weather forecast. very strong winds, 60—70 mph gusts in place. wednesday the winds will not be so strong in the north, they are using asi strong in the north, they are using as i speak. and in the forecast, we have rain and sunshine depending on where you are. this is the big picture across the atlantic and europe, a big storm south of iceland, these speckled clouds here, these are shower clouds moving into scotla nd these are shower clouds moving into scotland right now. with that also comes the blue colours across scotla nd comes the blue colours across scotland and northern ireland, just about the north of england. but the south hangs on to some of that

milder weather all through the night and into tomorrow, as well. through the night, still some very brisk winds around the coast of scotland, some white there is wintry showers giving a covering across the highlands. clear skies across the central swathe of the uk, where as in the south, a general weather front here. more cloud and drizzle, and we have that milder air. through the morning, it turns wet in the southwest of the country. that rain will spread across southern areas in the day. best of the sunshine across yorkshire, lancashire, the lakes into northern ireland, some in scotla nd into northern ireland, some in scotland but still breezy across the western democrat western isles with showers there. that rain is spreading across the south through the course of tomorrow afternoon and evening. thursday's weather map shows this low pressure giving us a headache in terms of how much rain and wind is in fact heading our way, but it does look as though thursday

morning is looking grotty across the country, cloud and snow across the pan ines and the southern highlands of scotland. sunshine in the middle of scotland. sunshine in the middle of the day, then more rain swings into the southwest. it could be quite windy, although i'm hedging my bets a bit here. big temperature contrast, 13 celsius in london, 3-5dc in contrast, 13 celsius in london, 3—5dc in the north. a mixed picture for those of us on wednesday, but we are confident that by friday, the skies will clear and you can see sunshine all the way from plymouth, liverpool into the democrat and bro. the next weather front heading for us friday night will be sweeping across friday night into saturday, and it does look as though the weekend and into next week is looking a rather changeable with times strong wind and heavy rain in the northwest of the uk. that's it for me, good night.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 11:00: at least 50 people are killed in a crush in iran, as huge numbers turn out for the burial of qasem soleimani, assassinated by the us. donald trump is unrepentant. he has been told a monster and he was a monster and he's no longer a monster, he is dead. that is a good thing for a lot of countries. boris johnson will tell brussels that a future relationship will be based on a free trade deal, not alignment with the eu the 19—year—old woman convicted of lying about being raped in cyprus, flies home after her sentence is suspended. hackers hold foreign exchange

company travelex to ransom