the attorney general of the united states, jeff sessions, may soon testify before the senate intelligence committee. we'll explain the impact. pressure builds on the british prime minister after her top advisers resign following a disastrous snap election. we'll take you live for the latest to 10 downing street. and one of the biggest rifts in the gulf shows little signs of letting up. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell.

contra "newsroom" starts right now. our top story, u.s. attorney general jeff sessions plans to testify before the senate intelligence committee tuesday. he was already scheduled to appear before congress that day but in front of different house and senate panels. >> sessions will be on the hot seat likely on his role for the firing of the former fbi director james comey as well as his meetings with russian officials during the presidential campaign. our athena jones has the very latest for you. >> reporter: hi there. that's right. we're learning the attorney general has offered to testify on tuesday before the senate intelligence committee. now, we know that senate investigators were going to be interested in speaking to the attorney general. if this goes forward, it means they're going to get that chance a lot sooner than they may have expected. we expect them to grill sessions on a number of issues, including his involvement in the firing of now former fbi director james

comey. during the hours long testimony on thursday, comey made several mentions of sessions. he questioned his role in his firing given the fact that sessions had recused himself from the russia investigation, and comey believes he was fired because of his handling of the russia investigation. comey also talked about how sessions was one of the two people who lingered in the oval office. the other was jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, after the president asked to clear the room so that he could speak alone with comey. that is, of course, a conversation comey later shared in which the president, he says, asked him to let the flynn probe go. this being the investigation into his then-national security adviser michael flynn. we know that comey says he later told sessions that it wasn't probably for him to be having one-on-one meetings with the president and asked sessions to make sure that was not allowed to happen again. and he talked about having been

aware of information that would lead to sessions' recusal from the russia investigation. here's that exchange that comey had with oregon democratic senator ron widen. widen asked comey why he didn't discuss the president's actions, which clearly disturbed comey, with sessions. watch that exchange. >> we also were aware of facts that i can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a russia-related investigation problematic, and so we were -- we were convinced. in fact, i think we had already heard that the career people were recommending he recuse himself, that he was not going to be in contact with russia-related matters much longer. and that turned out to be the case. >> reporter: and that turned out to be the case. now, cnn learned that in the closed session that followed the open session on thursday, comey told the senate intelligence panel about a possible third meeting, an undisclosed meeting between sessions and the russian

ambassador sergei kislyak. the department of justice has denied such a meeting took place, but that is some of the detail that comey didn't want to talk about in open session, and it is the kind of question we expect sessions to have to answer when he appears before the senate intelligence panel. back to you. >> meantime, the countdown is on for president trump. house investigators are giving him two weeks to hand over any memos memos or recordings. >> the president says he's willing to give sworn testimony to prove he's telling the truth. >> so he said those things under oath. would you be willing to speak under oath to give your version of those events? >> 100%. >> so brian class is a fellow of comparative politics at the london school of economics. i spoke with him earlier about the he said/he said situation between the president of the united states and the fired fbi director.

>> when you get down to a credibility contest, everyone who's fair minded in the world knows that trump is going to lose that battle. so i think it's a very unwise decision to try to go up against somebody who's spent their career building credibility versus somebody who's spent their career showing why they should not deserve credibility in the public eye. >> brian, let's now talk about the president's attorney general, jeff sessions, who plans to testify this week. from the testimony of james comey last week, he revealed there may have been a third encounter with russian officials. this is something that mr. sessions did not mention in his initial testimony. so the idea has been floated, brai brian, that this could be perjury. your thoughts here? >> i think it's too early to tell. i think that's going to be some of the questioning. i think the thing we need to worry about a bit is reports suggest this hearing is going to be a closed hearing. in other words, the public and press will not be allowed to be there. i don't see any rationale for why that needs to be the case. we saw with comey you can have both.

you can have an open hearing that does not involve class if ied -- classified information. the american people are owed that kind of testimony. we need to understand why and why he didn't correct the record. in testimony, if you misspeak, you can easily file something that says, i misspoke, let me correct the record. sessions did not do that. we need to know why. >> brian, the last question here, two different lines of investigations happening. one into collusion between russian officials and members of the trump administration or trump transition team. then also the investigation simply into the president himself. did he obstruct justice in this case with mr. comey? so first of all, which is the bigger danger to the trump administration right now given that there are quite possibly two investigations going on? >> well, they're parallel dangers. there's dangers for trump's

political survival. there's dangers for the trump presidency more broadly and its political agenda, and there's dangers for the united states. they're all wrapped into this. in terms of political survival, the obstruction of justice is the most pressing one. remember before nixon resigned, the articles of impeachment drafted against him involved obstruction of justice and abuse of four. article four of the impeachment article drafted against bill clinton involved abuse of power. trump admitted he fired comey because of the russia investigation and because of the comey testimony saying i demand loyalty and urging him to end the probe into michael flynn, his national security adviser. we're also losing sight of the bigger picture, which is that of the nine times that trump met or spoke to comey, he never raised the issue of how do we stop this intervention in our democracy, this cyberattack by russia. i think that's one of the big problems being swept under the rug here. he seems much more worried about his personal political survival

than about preserving, protecting, and defending the united states as he pledged to do in his oath of office. >> that was a conversation i had earlier. visit cnn.com/politics. that's where you can get the latest on the u.s. political situation, the trump white house, and of course much, much more. like this story. >> switching now to the united kingdom. the question here, deal or no deal? just days after a snap election that backfired on the british prime minister. downing street says she still hasn't struck a deal. prime minister theresa may has not struck a deal with the democratic unionist party, after indicating that a preliminary deal had been reached. >> mrs. may hopes to ally with the northern ireland party after voters stripped her conservatives of a majority in parliament. it also appears she's cleaning house after the election disaster. two of her top aides announced their resignation saturday.

timothy admitted in a statement there were failures in the conservative campaign. you can say that again. for more, cnn's melissa bell is outside 10 downing street in london. and cnn diplomatic editor nic robertson is in belfast for us. melissa, let's start with you. another day dawns for ms. may. and what will it bring? >> reporter: it seems every day brings its fresh layers of the pressure to the embattled british prime minister theresa may. first of all, that deal that is apparently not a deal with the dup. that will no doubt be the subject of continued negotiations. it is crucial, of course, to theresa may if she has any hope of forming a minority government that deal is struck. then it appears she's fending off a growing movement to prepare a leadership challenge. she's going to be facing a powerful back bench committee early next week and is going to

have to put on a solid pregna y performance to get past them. beyond that, we're looking at a week on monday. that will be the crucial test, if a deal has been struck with the dup, when she announces the queen's speech not only will be the first test of the loose alliance that appears to be being cobbled together. it will also be an opportunity to announce the beginning of the great repeal bill. this has been described by the house of commons library as the greatest legislative program ever undertaken in the united kingdom. it is about turning eu law into uk law, bringing power back to the united kingdom with a view to the brexit having come to an end. it is a massive legislative program that this weakened prime minister is going to be trying to push through parliament within the context of a fairly loose alliance with the dup if. that gives you an idea of what's

in the intro for theresa may's coming days. >> what about the man we all remember for his hair mainly, but other things, boris johnson. >> reporter: growing talks about him. the british press is full of it today, the fact that the current foreign secretary could be the best hope for those who hope to see theresa may replaced. there is so much anger, natalie, within conservative ranks about the fact this election was called, about the way it was handled, and this sense amongst many parts of the party that she should go. what helps focus the mind of the conservatives is, for instance, when the labor leader jeremy corbyn reminds them that he's ready to form a government that should talks with the dup fail, he'll be ready to form a minority government to take over. that, of course, focuses conservative minds. they know they need to help theresa may get through these next few days. they hope that she forms a government. otherwise, they know they will lose power altogether. and that is clearly something

that no conservative mp wants to consider. >> all right. melissa bell, thank you so much. >> now let's go to northern ireland, where our international diplomatic editor nic robertson is standing by live in belfast. good to have you with us. it's very clear now and apparent that a deal has not yet been reached. are you hearing any more about the sticking points, what separates these two parties from coming together to reach a confidence and supply arrangement to effectively move forward? >> reporter: yeah, neither side is saying what they've been talking about, and i get a sense that it's caution potentially on the part of the dup and partly from what we're hearing there from melissa, that there is a possibility of a challenge for leadership. there would be caution, obviously, on the part of the dup not to sort of jump too quickly to strike a deal with theresa may if she's not going to be the prime minister by the end of next week. but of course, there are many other issues that are key.

what's interesting here is number 10 downing street seems to be very keen to push an early narrative. their top official who came here for talks yesterday had some success, they said. there was agreement in principle on an outline agreement. a sort of vague statement, but it gave you the sense that something had been done. then they rolled that back saying later that, in fact, the prime minister called the dup and they were hoping for agreement discussions in the coming week. the dup said from their point of view so far, the talks had been positive, but they expected them to continue into next week. look, the dup will have things they want to deliver on. that's for sure. there will be things there that they want 10 downing street to agree with them on, and they will push for those. one of the important things will be for their base not to be seen to be giving in too quickly on

an agreement. that will look like they're capitulating. they're going to want to appear to be strong. these are going to be the key issues for them. so from that point of for the dup, making an agreement quickly is not in their interests. let's face it, in northern ireland, part of the politics is the art of the negotiation. it plays out over a long time before you make a fuinal agreement. >> just to get some context for our viewers who may not be familiar with the delicate piece that exists there in northern ireland, explain the danger here for them to align themselves, even a loose alignment, with the dup. i believe we may have lost nic robertson's audio or connection with him. but we had nic robertson live

there in belfast. we'll of course come back to nic as soon as we can re-establish a connection with him. a very important story. obviously looking to align themselves with the dup in order to effectively govern. the question is will they be able to reach that agreement. will they be able to come together. and if they come together, what impact will it have on northern ireland. >> and i will be talking about that a little bit later this hour with sir anthony seldon, the autobiographer of former prime ministers tony blair. right now voting is under way in france's parliamentary election. national front leader marine le pen has just cast her ballot. you see the video here. this is a look at her visiting a pollination. she is running for a seat in her northern district. >> the far right party is hoping to strengthen its power in parliament after le pen lost the presidential election. today's vote is just the first round. another election is set for the

18th. coming up here, the gulf nations are still freezing qatar out, but now russia is weighing in and offering advice. plus, a u.s. official says a deadly attack on u.s. soldiers in afghanistan looks to be an inside job. we'll have details ahead. >> also ahead -- >> are you worried about the risk of what you do here? >> our motivation is not in fear. we are trying to build a beautiful russia of the future. >> getting the opposition message out on youtube. the push for protest in russia. that's coming up here. you're watching "cnn newsroom." unpredictable abdominal pain or discomfort and diarrhea. i tried lifestyle changes and over-the-counter treatments, but my symptoms keep coming back. it turns out i have irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea, or ibs-d. a condition that's really frustrating. that's why i talked to my doctor about viberzi...

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the all-new volkswagen atlas. seats seven, sleeps six. life's as big as you make it. welcome back. russia vows to help resolve the diplomatic showdown that has left qatar in isolation. on saturday, the foreign ministers from russia and qatar met to talk about the dispute that's going on in the region. >> nine countries have accused doha of supporting terrorism. qatar denies the allegations. russia is calling for open dialogue. >> washington's decision in all this is not clear. qatar has been a long-standing ally to the united states, especially in the fight against terrorism. but president trump sent a harsher message. it even differed from his own

secretary of state. >> the blockade is also impairing u.s. and other international business activities in the region and has created a hardship on the people of qatar and the people whose livelihoods depend on commerce with qatar. the blockade is hindering u.s. military actions in the region and the campaign against isis. >> the time had come to call on qatar to end its funding. they have to end that funding. and its extremist nideology in terms of funding. i want to call on all of the nations to stop immediately supporting terrorism. >> the blockade led by saudi arabia started about a week ago, restricting access to neighboring air space and land borders. that forced many qataris to stock up on food in case of shortages. let's get some context now with the author of "isis: a history"

and a chair for the middle east contemporary studies. let's talk more about these mixed messages we just heard a moment ago between the president of the united states and his secretary of state. rex tillerson sending a message to ease tensions in the region. the president, then a different message that seemed to only enflame the situation. >> well, the american position is very clear, george. the american position has sided with saudi arabia and its allies against qatar. the trump administration wants to end the crisis as soon as possible. but also trying to exert pressure on qatar to accept the terms of saudi arabia, the united emirates, egypt, bahrain, and others. two major terms. they want qatar to end its support for the islamists, whether you're talking about the muslim brotherhood in egypt or the islamists in libya and its

funding, stop its funding for some islamists and also join the anti-iranian coalition. the trump administration believes that iran is a spoiler state and all the gulf states and arab states must become part of this particular coalition. so even though there's some disconnect between the white house and the state department, the american position has really been pushing qatar to accept the terms of saudi arabia and its allies and end the crisis sooner than later because the current crisis has major implications for the u.s.-led campaign against isis. the u.s. has a major military base in qatar and also has major implication for gulf unity. this is where the messages are going from washington these days. >> how much is this the result of the president's trip to saudi arabia? are we seeing nations in that region emboldened now with a closer relation to this new

president of the united states? >> there are two points. the first point i would like to make is the current crisis has been simmering for almost three, four years between qatar, which is a very small state, and its neighbors, the pivotal states in the region, saudi arabia and egypt. this crisis, there was a major flare-up of the crisis in 2014, and kuwait mitigated and brokered a settlement. saudi arabia, the united arab emirates, bahrain, and egypt believe qatar had not carried out the terms of the 2014. the second point, yes, you're absolutely correct. the visit by president trump to saudi arabia was the spark that triggered the current crisis because the trump strategy is a twofold strategy. it's a fight against isis and al qaeda and extremism. trump wants all the arab states, particularly the gulf

cooperation council, to become proactive in the fight against isis, but also a second angle, that they must join ranks against iran. there is a consensus within the gulf that qatar is basically a spoiler, even though it says it's part of the coalition against iran, it really has very close relationship with iran. and qatar supports the islamists, who are seen as a threat to regional stability. so in a way, yes, the trump administration summits in saudi arabia was a critical factor in the equation. >> confusion coming from washington and into the room walks russia. talk to us about the impact of russia now stepping in to help find a solution, also flexing its influence in the region. >> we are seeing the reassertion of russian power throughout the middle east, whether you're talking about syria or whether it's egypt or in the gulf or

other places. qatar's strategy basically is to expand the crisis to maximize its bargaining position by internationalizing the crisis. the qatari foreign minister was in russia yesterday. also, turkey has sided with qatar because qatar is now isolated within its own space, within its own family. the gulf is politically and physically the only land crossing with saudi arabia is basically now shut down. what qatar is trying to do is play for time and maximize its bargaining position. i doubt it very much whether russia can help qatar a lot in the gulf because at the end of the day, qatar's position is very weak. it has very few options, and the options it has are very limited. my take on it is that the americans will most likely broker a settlement where qatar will accept the terms, the major terms laid by saudi arabia and its allies, probably in the next few days, i hope.

>> i'm curious to ask you this question. how much of this could be a miscalculation, a misstep by a new president stepping into the geopolitical scene, or is there some strategy here by aligning closer with saudi arabia? >> well, i think the trump administration is trying to really basically challenge the policies of his predecessor, barack obama. barack obama kept a healthy distance from the rivals in the region. in particular, the rivalry between saudi arabia and iran. what the trump administration is trying to do is to really basically carry out a new strategy, by siding with saudi arabia, by siding with the pivotal states, not just saudi arabia. saudi arabia and egypt. its strategy is based on a basically perception that by creating a coalition not only

against iran and against isis, basically the united states will be able to change the dynamics of the region. this particular strategy is to be tested. the middle east is a mine field. most presidents -- you're talking about from president clinton to president brush to president barack obama, and now president donald trump -- will realize sooner rather than later that the middle east is very complex and a very difficult area to manage from washington. >> fawaz, thank you so much for your time today. >> thank you. >> we appreciate it. the son of the late libyan leader moammar gadhafi is free after six years in captivity. a militia has been holding him since 2011. >> statements said that gadhafi was released under a general amnesty law. the libyan parliament passed. he is still wanted by the international criminal courts for alleged crimes against

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and advanced fiber network infrastructure. new, more reliable equipment for your home. and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. and welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. you're watching cnn newsroom live from atlanta. i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour. the u.s. attorney general jeff sessions plans to testify before the senate intelligence committee on tuesday. it's not clear if the hearing will be public or private. sessions says he decided to give testimony after questions arose from former fbi director james comey's testimony earlier this week. voting is under way in

france's parliamentary election. national front leader marine le pen cast her ballot just a few moments ago. she's running for a seat in her northern district. the far right party hopes to strength strengthen itself in parliament. a top official says the terrorist fled the country and was killed with the help of foreign intelligence services. isis has claimed responsibility for the wednesday attacks that killed at least 17 people. the british prime minister has not reached a deal yet with the democratic unionist party after a snap election backfired on her. theresa may wants the northern ireland party to back her conservatives in parliament. earlier, downing street indicated a preliminary deal was in place. and some political leaders, including conservatives, are criticizing a potential alliance with the democratic unionist party. the dup opposes abortions and

same-sex marriages. earlier, the british secretary of defense spoke with the bbc and addressed that criticism. >> we're not in government with the dup. we're not in coalition with the dup. they're going to support us, as i said, on the crucial, economic, and security issues that face this country. we do not agree, and we do not have to agree with any of their views on some of these social issues. i certainly don't. >> and striking a deal with the dup is also divisive. nic robertson has more from belfast. >> reporter: elections barely over, the democratic unionist party, northern ireland's most powerful protestant party, is already in talks with theresa may's conservatives. this is dup heartland territory. the writing on the wall sums up the thinking. the ulster northern ireland

conflict is about nationality. this we shall maintain. they are proud to be british. the union jack is at the center there. fiercely loyal to the crown. they're ready to fight for it. not all unionists are as strident as the mural's paint. reverend mervin gibson is a moderate unionist, knows dup policy well, sees the may alliance as good for his community. >> i think it's very simple. both parties are committed to the united kingdom. i think any caption between them will be good for the united kingdom. >> reporter: across town in the catholic or nationalist community that aspires to irish unity, the expectation the dup are a political outlier that will cause may problems. >> they're against an irish language act. they're against marriage equality for gay and lesbian

couples. >> reporter: in this city, miles of peace wall divide protestant unionist and catholic nationalists. three decades of sectarian conflict ended 20 years ago. still, distrust runs deep. and where that trust is bridged, at northern ireland's power sharing government suspended earlier this year. the impact of theresa may's dup agreement could hit hardest. the power sharing government here collapsed amid acrimony over hundreds of millions of dollars committed to a green energy scheme managed by the dup and claims of inequality in here. negotiations to restart need may's neutral mediation. and now she'll be perceived as deeply in the dup corner. >> we have never seen the

british government as being impartial or being a referee. sometimes they present themselves as carrying the white man's burden. they are players. >> the unionist parties are committed to s committed to see an assembly back up and running. >> reporter: far from securing a strong future, prime minister may's reliance on the dup could be saddling her with yet more problems. northern ireland's uneasy peace. nic robertson, cnn, belfast, northern ireland. >> and we'll be talking with a british historian about this, what would you call it, ruckus at 10 downs street coming up. the opposition is sounding a call for nationwide protests across russia. we'll tell you how people that want to protest in russia are trying to get that message out. and a month-long offensive

along the afghanistan/pakistan border takes a deadly turn. coming up, a claim of responsibility ahead. finding time to get things done isn't easy.

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you can actually remember, instantly. add that premium channel, and watch the show everyone's talking about, tonight. and the bill you need to pay? do it in seconds. because we should fit into your life, not the other way around. go to xfinity.com/myaccount three u.s. soldiers are dead and a fourth wounded in a joint u.s./afghan military operation in afghanistan. >> it happened along the border with pakistan. the taliban is claiming responsibility for the attack. a reporter for "the guard ian" joins us live from kabul. it's good to have you with us, sir. this has been described as an insider attack. a member of the afghan security forces who opened fire. what does this say about the

overall safety, the overall security of forces that are involved in this effort. >> well, attacks like this one have become a bigger problem as there have been more and more international troops into afghanistan. i think they started around 2007 and peaked around 2012. since 2007, more than 150 coalition troops have been killed in so-called insider attacks. it's a result of obviously american and other coalition troops working closely with afghan soldiers, which is what they do now. they advise and assist. if this is true that the taliban have infiltrated the special forces, then this is a pretty new tactic from the taliban or at least a success we haven't seen before. but we haven't had confirmation from the americans yet just about what the identity of this attacker was and whether he was indeed a taliban infill traitor.

>> we've seen violence picking up there. all of this happening at the same time the united states is considering sending more troops to the region. might have lost connection there -- >> i'm here. >> okay. make sure we still have connection. this is happening at a time where the u.s. is thinking about sending more troops into the region to continue the effort. >> yeah, it's true. the american administration is mulling a decision over whether to send, as we hear, somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 troops to afghanistan. the question is now what these troops are supposed to be doing here. the afghan president said they will keep advising smaller divisions of the army and in that sense be more hands on and inject a bit of morale into the afghan forces. the fact is that when the americans and their allies had

1 150,000 troops in afghanistan a couple years ago still didn't manage to defeat the taliban. i think it comes down to what the plan for actually attaining a political solution to the conflict here is. >> 2:12 p.m. in kabul, afghanistan. sune, thanks for the insight. we'll stay in touch with you, of course, to learn more. >> thank you. russia is sending a message to the united states. secretary of state rex tillerson spoke with russia's foreign minister by phone saturday according to a foreign ministry statement. sergei lavrov was clear washington needs to stop bombing pro-assad military forces in syria. >> the statement said sergei lavrov strongly disagreed with the u.s. strikes against pro-government forces, calling for specific measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. this comes after three recent u.s. air strikes against pro-syrian forces. a vocal critic of the russian

president l.p. vladimir putin i calling for a nationwide protest. >> she has been blacklisted by the state controlled media, so he's getting his message out on youtube. >> reporter: the show is about to start and oxana is execing final details under the watchful eye of her boss. >> the idea was he wanted a special youtube channel with live streams. >> reporter: the channel has grown from nothing to more than 300,000 subscribers in less than three months. that's on top of the 1 million that subscribe to the original youtube channel. >> is it important for your country? >> i feel somehow that people need it. they are sick and tired all these years without any

possibilities to be heard. >> reporter: the movement came of age on march 26th with protests in almost 100 cities across russia. many who turned out responding to this video. a slick and detailed expose alleging corruption by prime minister dmitry medvedev, which now has more than 20 million views. medvedev denies the allegations. on that day, they were up at dawn streaming the protests. then the police arrived, and that was live streamed too. some of them spent seven days in detention, accused of refusing to heed a supposed bomb threat and leave their office. >> are you worried about the risk of what you do here? >> our motivation is not in fear. we are trying to build a beautiful russia of the future. >> reporter: while the kremlin

goes out of its way to ignore them, one billionaire, a close ally of vladimir putin, had this response to the claim that he's part of medvedev's corrupt circle. i spit on you, he says. he has since successfully sued for defamation. a small price to pay. >> not a very long time ago, no high-ranked authority would even pronounce his name. i think it's a good thing. >> reporter: in the face of the kremlin's might, this insurgency is trying to build momentum for its next big test. with a few modern tools and some old-fashioned ones. cnn, moscow. >> cnn contributor and former moscow chief jill daugherty

joins us live from moscow. if you can't go live in the streets, you can live stream certainly. what do you make of this effort and how it might be angering the kremlin? >> well, it's very effective because especially for young people who live on social media, on facebook and certainly youtube. so this is very effective. i think you're seeing the kremlin trying to figure out exactly how to deal with this. these demonstrations, meetings will be going on all over the country, and in some places they are permitting them, such as here in moscow. in other places, they're not being permitted to take place. i think the kremlin and officials in these cities are trying to balance. they're not happy about it, obviously, but did you come down on it too hard and alienate people. the focus here, natalie, really a lot of it is on young people.

young people are very important in russia right now. the kremlin is watching them carefully, trying to figure out how they can get their message out. it's a combination of persuasion and sometimes intimidation in some places for the young people and also their parents not to get involved in these demonstrations. >> interesting. yes, young people are becoming more and more the focus these days because they do things their own way and certainly with the help of social media. jill daugherty live for us in moscow. we thank you. the british prime minister is being criticized for trying to form an alicenliance with th northern ireland party. we'll talk with a biographer of two former prime ministers about the future of the british political leadership. comfortable you are in it. so find a venus smooth that contours to curves, flexes for comfort, and has a disposable made for you.

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we thank you so much, sir, for joining us. we really want to hear your take on what is going on. what comes to mind when you think of a biography of theresa may? >> which i plan to be writing. well, this is an extraordinary position here in the uk. i can't think of anything quite like it in peacetime. a prime minister who went to the country seeking a much stronger mandate, many more members of parliament to give her the strength to go to brussels, to fight for a good brexit for britain, and she's got the very opposite of what she wanted. her party, her government, and she herself are much weakened. this is just an extraordinary time in british politics. >> and did anyone see this coming? should she have seen this coming? >> to be honest, you know, it's amazing.

when this kind of thing happens, people pop up and say, well, you know, i warned you about it. but the reality is that next to nobody imagined it would be anything else other than a great majority for theresa may. and the only interesting question was how big would her landslide be. would it be up in 150 or just be as low as about 100 majority. no serious commentator at the start of this election campaign foresaw that this kind of fiasco would happen. it's incredibly unusual. >> yes, it is. polls show that young people really came out to vote this time. jeremy corbyn has just said this morning that he expects perhaps another election could occur this year or next year. i would think at this point the people there who have voted are getting weary or these

elections. >> yeah, i mean, this again would be without precedent. we had in 1910 and 1974 two general elections in one year, but they weren't so recent to general elections. only two years since britain had the 2015 general election when david cameron got back with an overall majority. then we had another national poll in 2016. so we are looking at the prospect in britain of going to the country with a national poll four times within the space of 2 1/2 years. yes, i think it's quite likely we're going to have a second general election in 2017. and that's interesting because they're often inconclusive. back in 1974 when we had a second general election, that also was inconclusive.

so it's possible that this sense of uncertainty and instability will continue even if there is a second general election. >> and i want to ask you, too, what do you make of her kind of desperate grasp of the dup in northern ireland to help shore up her support? >> well, entirely logical. it wasn't what she thought she would be having to do, but she is a leader of honor, and she's now thinking i've got the country into this position, and what i now need to do is to do whatever i can to provide the stable government that can take britain forward to take the critical decisions that need to be taken over the economy and domestically as well as the brexit negotiations beginning in just ten days' time. so this is not what she wanted,

but it's what she's having to do to form this pact with the unionists. >> thank you so much. we appreciate your thoughts, sir anthony seldon. thank you for watching "cnn newsroom." i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell. this is cnn. i've tried enough laxatives to cover the eastern seaboard. i've climbed a mount everest of fiber. probiotics? enough! (avo) if you've had enough, tell your doctor what you've tried and how long you've been at it. linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass. do not give linzess to children less than six, and it should not be given to children six to less than eighteen. it may harm them. don't take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools.

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