a key us government body, the general services administration, has written a letter tojoe biden saying that his transition as president—elect can formally begin. analysts say the gsa statement means that the trump administration must now cooperate with the incoming biden team. president donald trump has said he has given the go—ahead despite plans to continue with legal challenges to the election result. mr biden‘s team has said the transition will begin with meetings with government officials on a response to the pandemic and national security issues. the head of the world health organization says a new coronavirus vaccine developed in britain is more evidence that the light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter. overall results from oxford university and astrazeneca's vaccine trial show it protects 70% of people from covid—19.

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i am stephen sackur. with donald trump's efforts to overturn the presidential election running out of road, the tension is increasingly focused on president—elect biden‘s vision of america's role in the world. will he revert back to the policies and assumptions that defines the obama years? are there lessons to be learned from trump's disruption of foreign—policy norms? my guest is anthony gardner, us ambassador to the eu under obama. what should the world expects from president biden?

anthony gardner, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. let's begin by looking out the names that have been put forward by joe biden to be key players in his foreign policy and national security team, that is tony blinken, who will be secretary of state, and jake sullivan, who will be his national security adviser. both of them key players in the foreign—policy machine of barack obama. foreign—policy machine of ba rack obama. does foreign—policy machine of barack obama. does this mean we are reverting back to what was? well, first of all, they are both exceptional human beings, exceptional individuals, with a lot of experience. i have known tony blinken for 52 years, and

i worked with him twice in the national security council and later, obviously, under the obama presidency. i have seen him in the trenches in some very difficult situations, and not only does he have the right skills and experiences, he is also a very decent human being and everybody who has worked with him would say that. those are with him would say that. those a re really rare with him would say that. those are really rare skills. and i have worked with jake and have a high regard for him. but no, to a nswer a high regard for him. but no, to answer your question. this is not going to be, in my view, speaking as a private citizen, obama 3.0. it has to be different. trump is not going to go away, that is not in his character, and unfortunately trumpism has not been defeated. a lot of water under the bridge. so things will have to be different. they will not perhaps be enormous bandwidth forforeign—policy, perhaps be enormous bandwidth for foreign—policy, and any foreign policy we to achieve, we are going to have to be very, very focused on trade and nontrade issues as well. so you will see a different way of going about things. interesting you say that you don't think there will be that much "bandwidth" for foreign policy.

that comes as something of a surprise, given thatjoe biden, in his five decades of public service, has exhibited a great and lasting interest in foreign policy. he is going to put that on the shelf, is he? no, i didn't say on the shelves, and of course, yes, he has enormous experience in foreign policy, which is one of the reasons i joined the campaign from day one. i'm just saying that the pressure of events will be such that most of the attention will be on fixing enormous damage domestically. we are going to have a lot to fix in terms of shoring up our democratic system, which has really been, in my view, undermined by this president forfour in my view, undermined by this president for four years. in my view, undermined by this president forfour years. and we have a pandemic that is raging, and a lot of other things. so i think the focus is clearly going to be on domestic policy. is joe biden going to try to unpick everything donald trump has done in the foreign—policy arena? trump has done in the foreign-policy arena? if you are asking, will many of the

things donald trump did, will they be unwound, i think the a nswer they be unwound, i think the answer is yes. on climate and on foreign policy, foreshore, and very quickly and quite rightly so. i think it is an outrage that we have walked away from the paris climate accords. i would expect there to be an announcement pretty soon that we will not only rejoin, but that we will do everything we can to help the world clamber out of the hole, the deeper hole that we have all dug ourselves into. but on nato, trade, working with allies, working in the multilateral system, i think you will see a radical change of emphasis. that doesn't mean that everything that donald trump did will be unpicked. look, there are a few achievements, including the fa ct achievements, including the fact three arab states have recognised israel. let's admit it, that is an achievement. i'm not saying everything, but a lot of things will be undone. we will get back to the specifics, especially in the middle east, but on your arena, europe, i'm mindful that you served as us ambassador to the european union for some years

under barack obama. in the arena of europe, there are going to be real efforts, it seems, to try to restore positive and warm relations between the united states and european allies who have looked with some disquiet at what happened under donald trump. how easy is that going to be? well, no—one is pretending it is going to be a walk in the park. we have a lot of challenges ahead of us. but i can tell you the emphasis will be dramatically different. let's start with the eu. donald trumpjumped let's start with the eu. donald trump jumped rails after six yea rs of trump jumped rails after six years of bipartisan foreign policy in the united states, supporting european integration and supporting the eu particularly, so i would probably agree that 90% of my predecessors, republican and democratic, would have thought and sad about the eu. this administration said, you know what, we don't need europe, we don't need to eu, we will do it alone. we will negotiate bilaterally, transactional, and we will deal with china alone. —— unilaterally. and worst of

all, trying to undermine the eu and infact all, trying to undermine the eu and in fact insulting a few allies, particularly germany, out of pique, as they sell too many products in the united states. all that will change dramatically, and for good reason, because the us, and this is what counts, the real acid test, the us can get more done by working with its allies, including on trade and including on china. the eu has an enormous single market that represents a lot of leverage. why we haven't worked with the eu to bring china to the table to reform the wto rules and address its abuse of trade and investment practices, i really cannot understand. do you think the europeans want us close and warm a relationship with the united states going forward as they have had in the past? i am just mindful, for example, that emmanuel macron in france says that the message of what happened over the last four yea rs happened over the last four years is that europe must be much more self—reliant, much less inclined to look to the

united states for its overall security guarantees. there are those also in europe who see joe biden, who is after all a pretty elderly president, and think he may only be around for one term, we're not sure comes next, donald trump and his associates still have more than 70 million votes cast in the last election. should we really rely on the united states to be our closest ally in the future? well, stephen, there are no guarantees in life stop who knows what will happen in four yea rs ? knows what will happen in four years? you are right, the threat is there, but we will return to the demagogic populism we have experienced in the united states... well, you call it a threat, i am not calling it a threat. i am simply saying european scanner wa nt to ta ke simply saying european scanner want to take for granted a sort of multilateral approach that you and joe biden are clearly keen to offer. —— europeans cannot take it for granted. yes, i understand completely. having resided in europe for 29 yea rs of having resided in europe for 29 years of my life, i absolutely

understand that. i can tell you, the first part of my question, i europeans happy, are they taking this is good news? absolutely. i have got a lot of messages from member states and from the commission saying that this is great news. it is time that we actually go back, as we were before, negotiating and moving forward on security and trade and other foreign—policy issues. but there is no guarantee. you know, the conclusion of all of this is that we need to seize the day. we need to seize the day. and i can tell you, in the work that was going on during the past six months in the biden campaign on foreign—policy, there were a few ideas that were really shaping our work, and one of them was, what is doable quickly, within two years, relatively uncontroversial, no academic proposals, and it is very important that we prove the case to our domestic populations that working with

allies within the rules, within multilateral institutions, yields better results for our people. that is the key test. there are decisions to be made about different priorities in europe, too, for the biden administration. we know that mr biden himself and tony blinken and jake solomon, over years, have expressed their concern about brexit. —— jake sullivan. they felt it was going to wea ken they felt it was going to weaken the european union, but in particular, we can a key ally, the united kingdom. but brexit has happened. it is a reality. and the united states must decide whether it really invests a massive amount in building a strong relationship with brexit prison, or whether its first priority is restoring a truly warm and functional relationship with the european union, led by france and germany. —— brexit britain. which is it going to do? why is there a choice? you opposing it as an either/or, i don't see it that way at all, i see it as a

triangle... but it is about priorities. where will the priorities. where will the priorities set? i was going to say, there is a triangle relationship, us—uk, eu—uk, eu - us. relationship, us—uk, eu—uk, eu — us. they are all important and they all need to work together. donald trump believes there is only one side of the triangle that appears to be important, and that is brexit britain. there are members of the conservative party to look at the world through a very narrow prism of brexit and think donald trump has been the best thing since sliced bread. that is a bizarre way of looking at the world. if one opens the aperture even slightly and considers literary interests of the uk, i think one would have to conclude, for reasons we have to get into, biden administration is much better news, on climate, multilateralism, china, sanctions, et cetera. but the eu will be a major focus, because this president has done so much to undermine our relationship with an essential partner. i was at the centre of it forfour years, almost partner. i was at the centre of it for four years, almost four yea rs. it for four years, almost four years. and i saw that even without the uk, the eu 27 will

remain an essential partner across many areas. so both are important. i don't see it the way you do. on trade, though, there is talk of a uk—us trade deal being worked on very quickly afterjoe biden comes into office. but there is also talk that the us was priority might be doing a much bigger trade deal with the eu as a whole. —— us' priority. i put it to you again that it is about priorities, about choices, but perhaps about priorities, about choices, but perhaszoe biden's gut instinct that so—called british trumpet, borisjohnson, may so—called british trumpet, boris johnson, may not so—called british trumpet, borisjohnson, may not be a partner he wants to get especially intimate or close with? —— british trumpet stop i don't think so. you are referring to some of the history which will be forgotten. the us and the uk will need to work together, they have to work together, for many reasons. and i mentioned a few areas. climate is a good one, where the uk will be the president of the conference of parties next year, and has been very bold in its desire to

reduce carbon emissions. it also human rights and good governance, anticorru ption, also human rights and good governance, anticorruption, all things very close to the heart of the president—elect, the uk has been courageous and outspoken. and i mentioned the other areas, which means that uk is other areas, which means that ukisa other areas, which means that uk is a natural partner of the united states. i haven't even mentioned digital policy, by the way, whether uk has been a thought leader, including in its online paper on harms that come out from, that are related to online platforms. in all of these areas, the uk is an essential partner. now, you ask me which will be more important? well, iwas me which will be more important? well, i was in the eu, andi important? well, i was in the eu, and i think in terms of economic impact, a deal with the eu would be bigger. but, just to be clear, not going back to ttip 2.0, you know, the effort we never signed, to get a us-eu effort we never signed, to get a us—eu free trade deal. i think we can do a lot with the eu, including eliminating ta riffs eu, including eliminating tariffs on industrial trade, and also mutual recognition in some sectors. we will need to see the eu move on agriculture.

the other side of the coin is that they will be some areas in which it is easier to agree with the uk in free trade. here iam thinking with the uk in free trade. here i am thinking about digital policy and also, some areas of agricultural policy. so i think both are important. let's talk china. now, when he was vice president, joe biden famously got on very well with xi jinping and the leaders in beijing when he went there. now he is inheriting a relationship which has become pretty poisonous, because donald trump has said quite plainly, "we will no longer accept an exploitative trade relationship with china", where they take and we give, and we will no longer accept their use of technology as a project of power and influence, its not going to happen anymore. will joe biden at least acknowledge that donald trump, maybe, was onto something in the nature of the with china? —— relationship with china. donald trump didn't discover

that china was abusing world trade rules and by the way he didn't achieve much at the end of the day and that is the acid test, how much did he actually get done? in financial services, to be fair, there appears to be some opening for us financial services companies but generally it has been a failure. he has pushed china into the managed trade area direction of santa china, just buy more of our stuff and we will go home happy. that is not what we should be doing, we should be addressing the structural issues in this relationship and as i've mentioned before, was truly bizarre about the last four yea rs bizarre about the last four years is that we haven't done this with our closest allies, particularly the eu, with whom we share actually a lot in common. . . we share actually a lot in common... let's look beyond trade for a moment, no trade is a great specialism of yours but let us think big picture about the way the world works today, the way the world works today, the key rivalry, frankly, between the united states and

china which works on so many levels, not just trade china which works on so many levels, notjust trade or technology but militarily too. donald trump got really tough in terms of using the us navy and the south china sea, sending a clear message to china there. i'm asking you whetherjoe biden will at least accept that the united states now, strategically, is locked into a long—term confrontation with china. well, no, i don't think confrontation is the word to use. again, donald trump didn't invent the importance of the south china sea and the rights of passage and the importance of maritime international law, that existed before and his former boss was also quite robust on that. do you think obama's messages on china were as robust as trump's? he didn't insult china andi trump's? he didn't insult china and i don't think we should be in the business of insulting china because china deserves

respect like every country does. but what i was going to say is that there are areas where we can work with china, despite the fact that we are going to be tough on them, but there are areas including climate, where we must work with china. remember, part of the reason we got to the paris claimant accords, together with the eu was that obama successfully brought the chinese into the deal and we are going to need to do that again, so there's no point in insulting countries including china when we need to work with them. the same applies to russia. they get confused then because as they understand it one ofjoe biden's key difference is, holding a summit, a global alliance of democracies which will be a symbolic moment of change from the trump agenda but if you are serious about that, then seriously china, russia, are going to have to be viewed with a great deal of suspicion,

because of their human rights records. well, they will be. you are right. i didn't say for a record, didn't mean to suggest that it is going to be a comfortable relationship. you remember donald trump was willing to sell human rights down the river as long as the chinese would be willing to buy more of our products. the only when they refused to do that did he discover human rights. that is not going to be the case in this administration, human rights will be a very important pillar. so you are right, it would be a co mforta ble right, it would be a comfortable relationship and the uncomfortable light will be shown on human rights abuses, but it will be done not in an insulting way. as a say, china deserves respect and i think one china policy, as well, will be reiterated so there is no point in poking china in those areas, but it will be a difficult, in some areas and

cooperative and others. this is precisely where one wonders what abidin presidency will be about stopping you talk about showing respect in the same breath as you talk about the policy towards uighur muslims which involves detainment as we understand it. again, with russia, we saw during the last yea rs of russia, we saw during the last years of the obama administration, mixed messages on what to do about russia's activities in ukraine, the annexation of crimea, the activities and east ukraine. is wide and going to be tougher than obama was on some of these real challenges? i am than obama was on some of these real challenges? iam not pretending they are easy but what can we actually expect from president—elect biden? stephen, you are suggesting a contradiction where i don't think there is a contradiction because the world is messy, foreign policy is messy. there are some countries where the relationship is obligated. in some cases, he will be very tough, there's no doubt. you

mentioned russia, ithink tough, there's no doubt. you mentioned russia, i think there is unfinished business with russia. a lot of us think there is unfinished business with russia and you know why. from the last election where there was a clear indication of russian manipulation intervention with the us electoral system i think it is absolutely something we cannot accept and we can't accept, either, that there is a campaign to assassinate local opponents on our soil. so there is unfinished business. it will be difficult, absolutely. will there be areas we can co—operate, even with russia? absolutely. let's finish and one more arena, and that is the middle east. donald trump can say that on his watch, he fundamentally changed us policy on key issues like moving the us embassy to jerusalem, on key issues like moving the us embassy tojerusalem, a different approach to the peace process with palestinian switch

and if —— which in essence allow them to retain the eastbank, and a very different policy towards iran which it seems encouraged saudi arabia and the arab gulf states to think it worthwhile to reach out to israel. on all of those arenas, things have changed a lot over the last four years. isjoe biden lot over the last four years. is joe biden going lot over the last four years. isjoe biden going to seek to unpack all of that? i should repeat, i am obviously speaking asa repeat, i am obviously speaking as a private citizen and the middle east is not my area of expertise. there have been some achievements under this administration and i mentioned what they were, but let's start with iran. anyone that thinks the region is safer because the us walked away from the nuclear negotiations is, i think, wrong. it is now less stable. but there are people that think that very thought, i'm thinking ofa that very thought, i'm thinking of a seniorfellow that very thought, i'm thinking of a senior fellow at the

council on foreign relations. he council on foreign relations. h e rece ntly council on foreign relations. he recently said the trump administration has pursued a successful middle east policy that succeeded precisely because a challenged entrenched assumptions, ratcheted up the pressure on iran, walked away from the deal on the nuclear programme and, in essence, he says has left the middle east more stable and safer. says has left the middle east more stable and saferlj says has left the middle east more stable and safer. i think thatis more stable and safer. i think that is incorrect stopping the as the iranians now are pushing the envelope backward, because the envelope backward, because the united states has walked away from it and they haven't gotten the benefit of the bargain that was announced during the deal and now they are increasing their material, as they understand it, and none of that leads to a safer middle east. the idea that you can have lasting peace in the middle east without the involvement of a major partner strikes me as rather extraordinary. so no, i don't

think the region is any safer today. now, how do we actually go about trying to not only saved but improve that agreement is something which will have to be dealt with. a lot of water under the bridge and terms of the extension of scope for that agreement to include things that the iranians are doing that we all know about and is an edible. but that was a better way of addressing the source of instability in the region. a final thought which is really about overseas perceptions of the united states and its role in the world. you, as you said, have lived in europe, you have seen have lived in europe, you have seen changing perceptions of the united states. donald trump, it's fairto the united states. donald trump, it's fair to say, has had a huge impact on outsiders views of the united states in just a four year presidency. do you thinkjoe biden, in his coming four years, will be able to undo all of the perception change that there has been about the united states? well,

i think about that a lot, because i am also a european, son of a european, lived in europe, as you say. these things don't change dramatically but certainly the mere fact of biden being president and the people he will appoint, having the policies that he will announce, will give us a window in which to act. we need to seize it and i'm glad you asked that question because europe will also need to ask itself the question, how can it work with the united states in the best possible way, not giving us freebies. we're not asking for that, but think how we can really move forward the next few years to prove the case, to prove that working with allies within the multilateral system that we built after the second world war, to prove that it's a better way of improving the security and prosperity of our citizens. anthony gardner, we will maybe revisit it after a couple of years and see how

it's going. but for now, thank you very much forjoining on hardtalk. thank you. hello there. monday was really quite a chilly day, particularly so across central and eastern england, where temperatures quite widely only got to around 7—8 celsius — just six there in north yorkshire. but one of the things that brings us the biggest temperature rises this time of year are warm fronts. and we've had one of those across the country, south—westerly winds have been following, and hour by hour we've seen those temperatures rise recently — such that by the time

we get to tuesday, 6am, those temperatures will be far higher than the highest temperatures we had all day yesterday, at around 10—11 celsius quite widely. so milder air is on the way, south—westerly winds to thank for that. but we'll also have this weather front which will be one of these slow—moving weather fronts — it's bringing rain at the moment in northern ireland and scotland, and it will continue to rain for these areas through much of the day on tuesday, as well. now further southwards and eastward across england and wales, it'll be a mild start to the day, with temperatures 10—12 celsius in places. quite a brisk south—westerly wind, some low cloud over the high grounds, some mist and fog patches higher up, a bit of drizzle around as well. but as we go through tuesday morning, i think the cloud may well break up at times across england. the best chance of that probably in the morning, really, across east anglia and south—east england. otherwise, probably keeping the cloud through most of the day for most areas. and the rain continues to come down for northern ireland and scotland. whether you see sun or cloud, temperatures around 11—13 celsius — a little bit cooler in the far northwest of the uk. that colder air is behind this cold front sinking southwards over the next few days.

as it pulls away, we will get that colder air lingering around the uk for much of the rest of the week. so here's the chart for wednesday — here's our cold front, bringing clouds, still a bit of rain moving southwards and eastwards into east anglia, southeast england, a few showers for scotland and northern ireland, it may be 1—2 sneaking down the irish sea, as well. you notice those temperatures cooling off — highs more typically around 8—9 celsius for northern areas, still around 11—12 celsius in the far southeast. the pressure then rises, giving us clear skies through wednesday night. there'll be a frost with high pressure around towards the end of the week. lots of dry weather with mist and fog patches in the morning, a few patches of frost, but it's a mostly dry picture, perhaps generally turning a bit more cloudy as we head into the weekend. that's your weather.

this is bbc news, i'm sally bundock with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. green light for president—elect joe biden as transition process is finally given the go—ahead. president trump instructs officials to do ‘what needs to be done' but in the last hour tweeted — he would never concede to fake ballots. building his team — joe biden reveals key national security and foreign policy appointments, with climate change job going to former secretary