the duke and duchess of sussex have announced they will step back as senior royals and work to become financially independent. prince harry and meghan plan to split their time between the uk and north america. the royal family is believed to be disappointed by the announcment, made, apparently, without consulting any of them. president trump has said iran appears to be standing down after tehran launched more than a dozen missiles at air bases housing us troops in iraq. mr trump said no americans were injured in the attacks. but he also said he would impose further sanctions on tehran. more hot and windy weather is expected in australia as the bushfire crisis goes on. 27 people have been killed since the fires started in september and at least 2,000 homes destroyed. millions of animals have been killed. the prime minister has announced more money to help communities rebuild.

now on bbc news, hardtalk: welcome to hardtalk. i am stephen sackur. in british politics, twe nty20 sackur. in british politics, twenty20 the beginning of the ‘johnson era', twenty20 the beginning of the ‘johnson era‘, thanks to his thumping parliamentary majority, prime minister boris johnson thumping parliamentary majority, prime minister borisjohnson has the opportunity to reshape the country. that means an exit from the eu at the end of the month but then what? how will you recalibrate britain‘s economy, training and diplomatic relationships? my guest is former conservative chancellor george osborne, his own political career was killed off by brexit. is boris johnson the leader britain needs?

george osborne, welcome to hardtalk. good to be here. i want to begin with a pithy quote, words from a p pa re ntly with a pithy quote, words from apparently delivered hours after the 2016 referendum when witnesses reliably informed us as you say, and i will paraphrase because you were using a rude work, and you said that, "dave is screwed, i am screwed and other countries are screwed. " do you now believe in retrospect that the country was and is screwed? i think leaving the eu was a bad decision for britain but... . the

language was stronger than a bad decision for britain. i think brexit has an impact on the economy, makes people poorer than they would otherwise be in the country and diminishes britain‘s influence in the world but we have now is a country had two chances to have a say on that, one in the referendum and second in the general election, which happened just last month, and so now we which happened just last month, and so now we have to move on to make the best of it and i don‘t do so because i think, you know, brexit is a bonus to the country but i do so because we are a democracy, we have now settled the decision and we all have to come together and work out a way forward. have to come together and also reflect on responsibilities and also reflect on responsibilities and roles in what has happened over the last three years. interestingly, last year you said this, "look, we had a referendum that we should not have had, we lost the referendum and the consequences for the country are grave and the only thing that are in my mitigation is that a huge number of people wanted that referendum. i

made a case against it but i was not heard. " my question to you is now do you now regret not shouting louder? i made a forceful case inside the government at the time, i was the chancellor of the exchequer that we should not be having a new referendum. there were very few allies in the cabin on the position and in the end, 600 members of parliament voted on the referendum, including the vast majority of the labour party. the political consensus at the time and media consensus at the time and media consensus at the time and media consensus at the time cabinet that britain had to resolve the issue, have the boat and many calling for the vote and the referendum assumed we would stay in the eu and not what transpired. i understand the way you lay things out but it seems to me the one opportunity you had to

really make a stand was at the beginning because you when david cameron were famously very close, not just cameron were famously very close, notjust neighbours at number 10 and 11 at downing street but he trusted your advice. he told him it was a bad idea but if you said to him look, this is the most important decision facing us in the country since the second world war, and i cannot go along with this and if you insist on the referendum i am out of here, that may have made a difference? i don't think it would have, honestly. the train was leaving the station, the political train towards referendum inside the conservative party, inside the conservative media and other elements of the political spectrum don pyke but you never tested the proposition. my resignation would not have made a difference and if anything once a decision was made, i thought i was someone he may be able to influence the outcome, i was the finance minister and set out the consequences of leaving and that did not work. then i had the responsibility to make the argument and make sure the country knew what it was voting for a new the

consequences. you were it was voting for a new the consequences. you were a much stronger pro—remain mps campaign and then david cameron annual message was simple, that if we do this, if we vote to leave the eu, we put at risk the foundations of the british economy. it may be that your interventions were counter—productive, your opponents including borisjohnson counter—productive, your opponents including boris johnson calder project fear and now that we look back at that. , with three years of hindsight, it seems you were the politician that the british public no longer wanted to listen to. would you agree with that?” no longer wanted to listen to. would you agree with that? i don't think thatis you agree with that? i don't think that is true. others can have their view on how the public thought about me but only a few months earlier i had led with david cameron and very successful election campaign and we we re successful election campaign and we were re—elected as leaders of the country. i think it‘s a false memory as the years go past that somehow by then the cameron regime was unpopular or people were antiestablishment. only a year earlier, the conservatives had one a resounding victory and the economic message was a very important part of

that victory — — won. just on the referendum and what was called project fear, i have not seen the counterfactual, and in a way we will never know, but i am not sure that if we had not made those economic arguments, we would have won referendum, we may have lost a bigger margin because the truth be told, when he got to the vote, the british people were not particularly enamoured with the eu and the swing voters, the people you appeal to in any campaign, where people who emotionally wanted to leave but were nervous of the economic consequences so inevitably the campaign focused on that. one more question then on looking back at 2016 and on your possible culpability. it‘s interesting to me than in the last year or so they have been quite a few academic studies and one by a gentleman who was an associate professor at warwick and he has written in the harvard business review a fascinating study based on detailed analysis, voting patterns,

individual constituencies and he says that in his analysis there is no doubt that austerity in and cuts to the welfare system, the cuts that you oversell, played a very important part in shoring up support for the uk independence party and for the uk independence party and for the uk independence party and for the vote leave campaign in the brexit referendum. a clear correlation. i've never heard of him but i just correlation. i've never heard of him but ijust don‘t correlation. i've never heard of him but i just don‘t agree with correlation. i've never heard of him but ijust don‘t agree with him! for two simple reasons. one is, that of course the alliance of brexit voters was not just people course the alliance of brexit voters was notjust people in left behind, depressed towns in the north of england that we have been talking a lot about british politics but also retired voters, pensioners, people in the south of england who were the very people who at the time often charge levelled at me that had escaped austerity. they had not been the target of government cuts. second, i would say that you have to look at cause—and—effect and

austerity was not a sort of volu nta ry austerity was not a sort of voluntary policy. it was a consequence in britain and basically every other western nation of the financial crash and in the financial crash hit poorest communities ha rd est crash hit poorest communities hardest in britain? yes it did. and did the financial crash potentially have a role in brexit? yes, potentially it did. but i think this, the assumption of the question, i have not read the study, is that somehow a set of deliberate government policies led directly to the brexit vote and ijust government policies led directly to the brexit vote and i just think thatis the brexit vote and i just think that is not true. i think underpinning the study and my question was a proposition that you became a politician who was seen to became a politician who was seen to be ultra— zealous about austerity in a way that went beyond fixing the public finances after the crisis

that came with the financial crash in 2008 and you had to deal with that in 2010. it went beyond that and in some peoples minds it became and in some peoples minds it became a fetish, you are absolutely obsessed with austerity strategy. that is just totally, not true! in fa ct, that is just totally, not true! in fact, of course, the longer i was in office as chancellor, the more we moved onto issues like the northern powerhouse, building up the north of england, other policies like trying to attract tech investment in britain and the like. but central to your policy was the notion that we have to eliminate the deficit. the deficit was over 10% of national income when i became the chancellor ten yea rs income when i became the chancellor ten years ago. that was about the highest in the developed world, certainly the highest in britain‘s peacetime history. in the first fee is that i was chancellor, almost normaljudge — near of our neighbours had fiscal crisis in one way or or another, island, neighbours had fiscal crisis in one way or oranother, island, portugal, grays, spain, many other countries had problems —— ireland, grease.

looking back on the last decade, britain had the strongest recovery of any major advanced economy of the world over the last ten years. we created more jobs world over the last ten years. we created morejobs in the government then any british government has created —— greece. and finally, missed in this fact is that in 2015 the country got a chance to vote again i‘m what you call this fetishistic economic policy and they embraced and re—elected david cameron and the conservatives. i and their anger and alienation poured out the year later. a theory, because he said they voted for one set of politicians and nine months later they change their mind. know, what i‘m suggesting also is that there was something interesting if we bring it to present—day and analysis on what is happening politics right and the conservative party host david cameron and post— donald osburn we have borisjohnson and his chancellor, who are

committed in opening the spending tax and oak much less concerned about the elimination of the deficit... . this is a news programme and something it happened in 2010 and 2020. ten years! the strategy is different. of course the strategy is different. of course the strategy is different because the fundamentals are different! in 2010, the british deficit was over 10% and today thanks to the steps we took and acknowledged by the new government, the deficit, we have not the latest figures but will be below 296. it will be around just over 296. that is a completely different economic situation. as it happens, the fiscal rules that sajid javid who i am the fiscal rules that sajid javid whoiama the fiscal rules that sajid javid who i am a big fan of, hasjust announced, almost identical to the fiscal rules i announced ten years ago which is you balance the current budget over a three—year horizon and aim to have debt falling by the end parliament. as it happens, this

strategy is actually not that dissimilar, even though of course the economic circumstances move on. what we have is a prime resident who now pushes, does not even talk about the conservative party, he talks about the one nation conservative party, the people‘s government and if we believe the times newspaper today, intent on trashing all of the pet projects that you and david cameron developed during your relationship and pushing an all—new agenda. i would not believe everything in the papers. would you accept there is a different tone to the conservative party today to the one that you and david cameron led? they have evolved. first of all, borisjohnson was the mayoral candidate for the london election in 2008 and 2012. he is a close colleague of david and myself. he has since the general election

acknowledge the role that we played in getting the conservative party out of opposition but i‘m nothing other then proud of what the conservative party achieved in the most election, brad because as a northern mp i was trying to get the parties strong in the north and we did make big advances in 2010 and 2015 but the real advance came last month. —— proud because. ithink it isa month. —— proud because. ithink it is a demonstration that we can be that one nation party and you have been part of a success story that is in the conservative party when four elections, increasing vote share in each election and something i am not embarrassed about. i think it‘s a real political success story! you talk about this sort of sunlit world where tories have achieved triumph after triumph but in the midst of that story you yourself, george osborne had seen your political career killed off and i wonder how personally it is to see boris johnson in number 10 with his incredibly parliamentary mandate when just four years incredibly parliamentary mandate whenjust four years ago, incredibly parliamentary mandate when just four years ago, you were becoming man, you were the

chancellor of the exchequer, working side—by—side with david cameron and appreciably like younger than boris johnson and yet he use it now with your political career finished, editing a newspaper and using number 10-- editing a newspaper and using number 10 — —and he isin editing a newspaper and using number 10 — — and he is in number10. is that calling? of course i did not wa nt to that calling? of course i did not want to lose the referendum but you have to accept at the top of british politics that your career can come to an end and i had 11 years as chancellor and shadow chancellor, a longer run than most, and i thought nothing more than incredibly lucky and privileged to have done those roles at that time. borisjohnson boris johnson says borisjohnson says he can have a deal by the end of 2020 and also a transformative deal deal by the end of 2020 and also a tra nsformative deal negotiation deal by the end of 2020 and also a transformative deal negotiation with the americans. it all sounds like have your cake and eat it all over again. i think britain has accepted, andindeedin again. i think britain has accepted, and indeed in the official forecast which of the treasury accepts, we will see come the much budget what the latest figures are, but a lower

long—term growth rate and lots of decisions in politics, notjust in this country but elsewhere, i made when you trade off economic efficiency for things like sovereignty or particularly strong feelings about your culture and whatever. .. feelings about your culture and whatever... but my question for you... britain made a decision essentially to be a bit poorer in order to be outside the eu and have at least nominal control over issues that the eu would have otherwise decided. is the prime minister levelling about the degree to which choices need to be made. one for example is, if he is serious in his message that there will not be close alignment playing field with europe, they will not be the completely free trade that he is envisaging at the same time that he does deals with

other powers like the united states. it seems to me, what he‘s offering a proposition, is very difficult to deliver. as a former chancellor, what is your take on that? you're right that a lot of fundamental decisions about the trading with europe have not been decided because the essential part will happen after we leave the eu at the end of this month. we will question these questions of do we align with eu rules and the file have a loss of control is over what those rules are in order to sell goods and services markets... the prime minister says quite plainly, no, because it is about control. it will depend sector by sector. car manufacturing we will probably follow european standards. but financial services, we do not need to follow european financial rules. it will be more and mix than you think. there is a big trade

deficit with the eu so, in the end, the eu will need this deal is much as we do... really! where does the leveraged set? once we are out of the eu, the eu does not have all the cards it certainly has an end of these negotiations because we would have been able to exit in an orderly way and event there will be serious consideration and other european capitals about whether you want to erect trade barriers with one of the major trading partners of france, germany, belgium and so on and a big market for a lot of european goods. i suspect the argument is going to come down on the issue of divergence. how far can britain diverged from european rules, not just regulations but also tax and environmental and employment protection. i personally think it

will be a long drawn out process. i think they will do a deal by the end of this year, at least on paper, the free trade agreement with eu but there will be a lengthy transition. we are not following of some clip which by the way was a real threat just two months ago. which by the way was a real threat just two months agolj which by the way was a real threat just two months ago. i had john major in this study are telling me that britain‘s influence in the world is severely diminished. he called brexit an act of terrible self—harm and many senior diplomats, tony blair, said the same thing. do you feel that as well? there is no doubt that brexit is bad for britain and diminishes our influence in the end shape important decisions on climate, of technology companies... where our voice would have been amplified if we remain part of the eu. i guess someone who went for six yea rs eu. i guess someone who went for six years to meetings and prices summit in brussels, britain‘s voice was quite strong in europe. the myth

that we were not listen towards a mistake. we just have to be realists. this country has made a decision. it made the decision twice, in effect. and you can either cry over the spilt milk of the past or get on with it. one personal point. you would put forward as a candidate to lead the imf, the next manager director after christine lagarde. after to—ing and fro—ing it seems the america went with the european choice. is that symptomatic of what will happen in the future? first of all, i think she will be a great... that is not what i am asking. britain has never been able to land at the imfjob since its creation even though british

economist came up with the idea. i do not know whether it was brexit induced... your main job is editing the london evening standard. we talked about theresa may earlier, have you used your platform to go after people. some of the things about theresa may have been absolutely brutal. as a former politician do you ever wonder about getting the tone right? what i try to do with the newspaper speak with the more than a million readers we have in the capital and the paper has a has been a liberal conservative paper, conservative of the conservative party but prior engagement in europe... the headlines, do you regret that?|j headlines, do you regret that?” would say... look, people will take a judgement. i would say the things isaid a judgement. i would say the things i said that were inevitable once

theresa may had lost the 2017 election majority, that she could not survive, that it would be a long drawn out political death have all been borne out and wasn‘t because i was writing and illustrating editorials. i was sitting out the obvious political facts which editorials. i was sitting out the obvious politicalfacts which i guess the conservative party itself realised two years later. as a conservative, it gave me no particular pleasure that the conservative party was struggling and gave me no pleasure that we went backwards in the 2017 election which is why as i said earlier i was pleased to see what has happened now. a final thought on your take of what the government is doing with regard to the media, in particular the bbc right now. borisjohnson was becky advisor dominic cummings have decided they did not believe the bbc is independent and impartial and they are not putting any government ministers onto the bbc flagship news

and current affairs progress. a decision that is positively frumpy and according to some people. —— trump like. i am a big fan of the mainstream media and author of the bbc but i think broadcasters in particular and the bbc have to understand that the political environment has changed. the politicians of the kind i once was in high office, to have options that we re in high office, to have options that were not available to me at the time. which is to reach the public in different ways. they do not have to go on the today programme...m there a duty to be held to account... i am now ajournalist there a duty to be held to account... i am now a journalist and i think that is frankly too romantic because frankly that has i was been... certainly in the last 50

yea rs, been... certainly in the last 50 years, quite confrontational relationship between the media and the political classes and, at some times in that relationship, one has the upper hand and at other times the upper hand and at other times the other has the upper hand. frankly, politicians have options available to them and they do not have to go on the today programme and be grilled for 15 minutes by an aggressive interviewer... you think it isa aggressive interviewer... you think it is a mistake to issue a boycott and sake we are simply not doing it anymore. personally i think boycott anymore. personally i think boycott a repeat left wing and student politics. i would a repeat left wing and student politics. iwould be a repeat left wing and student politics. i would be amazed if the government does not put people up after a few months in these programmes. but the political interview has to change if you want people in high office coming on the programme and the public have moved ona programme and the public have moved on a bit. i do not think that works anymore and there are some really effective bbc interview with big followings who do not take quite

such an aggressive approach. the world changes and a good media keeps up world changes and a good media keeps up with it. on that fascinating thought, we must end. george osborne, thank you for being on hardtalk. hello. weatherwise, it‘s pretty much a case of you name it and we‘ve got it coming our way in the next few days. we‘ve got a chilly start to thursday to the far north of the uk with a patchy frost and some fog. further south, it‘s unseasonably mild. this area of low pressure will bring wet and windy weather to a central swathe of the uk

early on in the day. later on, the south—west gets targeted by another low, heavy rain, thundery and a risk of gales. here is the rush hour across northern england and southern scotland, snow for the higher routes of the pennines, some heavy rain and some squally winds. all of that pulling out into the north sea as the morning wears on. quite a cutting north—easterly wind, though, following on behind, so chilly for those north sea coasts. by the afternoon, our next low coming in to the south—west, that‘s set to produce some heavy rain. strong winds, particularly, for the isles of scilly and for the channel islands, 12 degrees in plymouth, and contrast that to just 3 in aberdeen. through thursday evening and overnight into friday, some very heavy rain tracks across southern england as this low heads off into the continent, and then, by friday morning, the pressure is building. the winds fall light, the skies clear and it will start to turn pretty chilly. perhaps an exception being the far south—east where the cloud will only clear towards the end of the night, so not so much cooling here,

but quite widely a frost first thing on friday. a lot of dry weather to get the day under way. light winds and sunshine but cloud gathering towards the north—west through the afternoon, the wind picking up and the rain starting to approach. but friday‘s temperatures, notice just 6 or 7 degrees, a much cooler story overall. but overnight friday into saturday, we start to pick up a strong south—westerly air stream, strengthening south—westerly winds and very mild air floods into the uk for saturday. that‘s important because warmer air holds more moisture and that‘s going to make this front all the more potent to the north of the uk, bringing heavy rain before it clears through during the second half of the weekend. so, here is saturday, a very wet day for parts of scotland, northern ireland and northern england. 100mm of rain possible in some spots with i think localised flooding before that system clears away. warnings have been issued for the rain, also for the wind, quite widespread gales at least until the middle part of saturday. by sunday, the front away into the continent, the skies are looking clearer, the wind is lighter, but we‘ve moved back into cooler air, so we‘re down into single figures with some wintry

flurries in the north—west.

this is the briefing. i‘m sally bundock. our top story: breaking with tradition...again! harry and meghan announce they‘ll be stepping back as senior members of the royal family. washington says the assassination of iranian general qasem soleimani was self—defence and americans are now safer. another day of national protests in france making the transport strikes the longest in modern french history. and in business briefing, snack—sized streaming! could quibi be the future of entertainment? we hear from the hollywood mogul and the tech tycoon who are betting on it.