generally agree if we get the right things done for the country, that is a better place than talking about the right things to get done. >> watch afterwards sunday night on hart senate office building 9 -- books tv. >> the british house of commons is in recess until september. next a look at the major events that occurred in the british parliament over the last few months. topics include brexit negotiations, donald trump's visit to the uk and the royal wedding of prince harry and megan markel courtesy of bbc parliament. this is half an hour. ♪

>> hello, welcome to a hot and sultry westminster where the temperature has been rising. coming up on this program, government and opposition mps harangue ministers how the government grapples with the uk's exit from the european union. >> a strong independent self-governing britain is open to the world, not miserable, permanent limbo. >> reporter: theresa may insists she has a plan for a principled and practical brexit but drama the government faces a series of votes. >> 301, nos to the left, 307. >> reporter: also on this program ministers promise to end the hostile environment to immigrants in the wake of the wind rush scandal.

the government promises more money for england and nhs, the opposition asks who is playing. >> her figures are so dodgy they belong on the side of a bus. >> we have consistently put extra money in the national health service. >> reporter: the uk is set to leave the european union in march 2019 but has some crucial legislation to get through before then. the bill puts the eu law into uk legislation, a legal black hole opening up after brexit and giving ministers the option to change once we left. the seemingly simple aim of the eu withdrawal is parliamentary battles that went on for tween 9 months. the bill that passed through the commons before easter with one defeat and flicked it on it, a demand for a vote on the final brexit deal struck with brussels. when it got to the bill, inflicting defeat after defeat

after defeat on the legislation. 15 votes with huge majorities against the government's plan on everything from a future customs union to environmental protection and the date of brexit. coming back to the commons concession and compromises were reached but that was one big sticking point. having secured from the final deal, causing parliament to have a bigger -- directed the government what to do if they left the eu without any deal at all. the mp explains. >> we cannot allow a situation in which there is no mechanism for dealing with no deal. >> reporter: the minister intervened to offer a compromise until the speaker had enough. >> this isn't a private conversation with another member. i want the whole house to hear, preferably briefly.

>> reporter: another meeting with ministers after some frantic negotiations, they thought they had an acceptable compromise but when they saw what happened after the vote they weren't happy but when the bill went back to the house of lords, they demanded parliament have a great say. a conservative brexit, is not what they want to do. >> could use a whether it remains the position it wishes all costs to destroy brexit? could use say on a point of clarification whether he wishes to destroy brexit? >> this amendment is about sabotaging brexit. >> reporter: this issue was bigger than party politics. >> this is the high court of parliament and we are not party hacks.

>> reporter: when it came to the vote, he insisted on parliament having a say, sending the bill to the commons again. >> two more frantic negotiations and the last government compromise, mps would have a monocle vote if john bricco rules in favor of one. the concession would put the final vote. mps were summoned. one mp receiving hospital treatment was wheeled through the commons, covered in a blanket and at the end of it the government won the day. >> the eyes to the right, 303, the nos to the left, 319. the nos have it. the nos have it. unlock. >> reporter: the bill finally received royal assent turning it into law at the end of june. how bruising a battle has this been, how is anyone supposed to keep up with the ins and outs

of brexit? questions i put to jonathan blake. >> those whose job it is to cover the process of brexit on a daily basis, people watching and listening and reading and trying to understand what is going on are forgiven for being confused. we have seen the government's position change. we go back to the speeches the prime minister made at various points and the agreement made, we heard ministers disagree within the cabinet whether that is the right way forward. >> reporter: how damaging his this been for the tory party? >> no question it has been a damaging process for the conservative party. we have seen different factions at the parliamentary conservative party turning on each other, arguments about their own party policy and government policy played out in public.

when people see that a party turned on itself, whatever the issue, it is never good in terms of convincing the public to vote for them. >> reporter: what about theresa may's style of government? does that have an impact on this? >> reporter: theresa may's style of leadership means it is difficult to get a handle where the brexit vote may end up. she is not someone who sticks to it no matter what. she is more of a collegiate day by day leader whose position evils over time. we have seen that through the process of brexit up to this point. the paper that was forwarded that the government wants to get is a wish list and that position is going to have to revolve through negotiations as the uk government and eu make concessions. >> reporter: we will be hearing more from him later in the program. might be hard to believe the last two months of been all about brexit. the government found itself backwards over a scandal that was building for years, the

treatment of the wind rough generation. it affected thousands of people invited to come to the uk from the 1940s gunships like the wind rush to rebuild postwar britain. landing cards were later destroyed and when immigration rules were tightened earlier this decade they didn't have the paperwork to prove their legal right to be in the uk and access benefits and healthcare. mps were told there were no targets for removing illegal immigrants. >> we don't have targets. >> reporter: it later turned out such targets did exist. >> the immigration arm of the home office is using local targets for internal performance management. these were not published targets against which performance was assessed. if they were used inappropriately, this will have to change.

>> no surprise to me or hundreds of constituents that came to me over the past few years, a litany of incompetence, over the department out of control marked by chaos. will she do the honorable thing and resign? >> people have been removed and she said she didn't know. i say with all conscience is she really the right person to lead this estate? >> reporter: it turned out she wasn't. she resigned over the issue and was replaced a few days later by said it who offered a change in immigration policy. the wind rush generation told of the nightmare of being detained. >> asked me my name, they said you are under arrest. who are you guys? immigration.

not going back, they are going to take me to detention. i said could i make a phone call? they said no. >> reporter: with this have happened if he hadn't had family outside detention? >> it was not long-term. would have given up. too hard. >> what would have happened if you haven't had natalie there in the home office telling them what was going on? >> i was in jamaica all alone. nobody over there. sending me to die, having a daughter, if it weren't for her we wouldn't be here. >> reporter: theresa may announced nhs was to get 20

billion pounds a year by 2023. where the money was going to come from, some could be from the so-called brexit dividend. after brexit, money coming back from brussels could be used to fund the health services. jeremy corban pressed theresa may for more details. >> there could be no brexit dividend before 2020 so economic growth is the slowest since 2009 so which taxes are going up. >> reporter: the parameter quoted an unnamed labor mp. >> returned from brussels after brexit to invest in public services. the right honorable gentlemen -- >> her figures are so dodgy they belong on the side of a bus. until, where the money is

coming from, why should anyone trust them on the nhs? >> 17 years of the national health service, 43 of those years, under stewardship of a conservative government. despite taking decisions pressing in 2010, the result of deficits by the last labor government. we put extra money into the national health service. >> reporter: theresa may saying there was a moment of high drama. the eu withdrawal bill, what it might mean. the westminster government was launching a power grab for powers that come back to the uk from brussels. >> reporter: in westminster, the common votes meant debate

on crucial issues, was cut short 218 minutes. the westminster leader and i came for elementary procedure. >> we will not be disrespected by the parliament. i have no option. >> it is a way to disrupt business and register a protest, they have to be completely clear. it requires a vote, and that vote could be taken at the end of session. in the middle of pmqs as he and blackburn wanted. john burke oh wasn't having that.

>> you are seeing that. >> reporter: mister blackford continued to object. >> the refusal of the right honorable gentlemen to resume his seat when so instructed. i ordered the right honorable gentlemen to withdraw immediately from the house or for the remainder of this day's sitting. >> reporter: ian blackford turned and marched towards the exit. a moment later all the other mps followed him as they walked past. a prearranged press conference, he said how his party would use parliamentary procedures to best effect a protest on the evolution being ripped up, powers are repatriated from brussels. things were not exactly sweet

in the cabinet. theresa may is under pressure to pay for the future relationship with the eu. the pace of the brexit talks needed to be intensified. after that, familiar weekend reports of infighting over brexit among conservative candidates. and on the subject of future uk customs arrangement with the eu. a plan that was unveiled at a crunch meeting at the country retreat and it proposed a common rule to avoid a hard border in northern ireland and the uk connected taxes on imports for the eu's behalf. the cabinet agreed the blueprint declared the collective responsibility in the cabinet responded. david davis resigned, boris

johnson the following day to sign up for the prime minister's compromise. >> personal statement. >> theresa may's plan amounted to brexit in name only. >> we have time in these negotiations, changed tack once again. an independent self-governing, not the miserable permanent limbo, not the democratic disaster of ongoing harmonization with no way out and no safe for the uk. marymac despite the resignations and disagreement, would turn into the customs bill, uk eu cross-border trade

after brexit. they didn't like that and put down amendments to the bill which the government later accepted. the remainders of those amendments undermine the field. >> it was margaret thatcher the championed free-trade as a proud conservative. i believe in business, capitalism. >> i knew margaret thatcher, i worked for margaret thatcher. my honorable friend is no margaret thatcher. >> can i drive you. >> i don't pretend to be able to walk in margaret thatcher absolute. if we do not deliver

frictionless trade either by a customs union or some magical way the prime minister can deliver on, good luck to her on that. if we do not do that, thousands will go. >> the first speech since his resignation. >> the risk and cost of having a customs border. to join a customs union, much more than imagined. the european union is a slow and not very effective negotiator. the fact is they represent different countries. >> because companies do trade across borders which have custom checks, we should rip up customs free borders so because those trades take place. why on earth would we do that.

>> everyone who comes into the eu via northern ireland stops, doesn't even match with, and a practice and collecting taxes. 13,000 lorries a year cross the border carrying drinks to parts of the united kingdom. not one of them stopped. >> we are two years on and no real progress being made. tory rivalries, leadership and factual is in making this a laughing stock and they should be ashamed. >> the uk government will not had things like that. and anything, and what the uk

government tales into means to do so. it is a complete shambles. >> that was just the start. the next day mps debated the trade bill where pro eu conservatives put down amendments that the uk stay in a customs union with the eu if the brexit pool fails to come up with alternatives by january next year. the move was defeated by a whisper. >> the eyes to the right, the note to the left, 307. >> reporter: there was no sigh of relief for ministers, the government was defeated over news about medicines between the eu and the uk. much of the brexit argument has been about how far the uk will be free to do trade deals once it left the european union.

the uk government after the nato talks in july. after being greeted by mrs. may, the interview with donald trump where he says staying close to the eu would make such a trade deal very unlikely. for good major he said he would like to meet up with foreign secretary boris johnson to make good with the prime minister. those comments caused outrage as did the fact the president was coming to the uk at all. tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets to object to the president's policies on immigration and his attitude to women. the visit had much of the formality and tradition of a state visit but was described as a working trip. there was dinner with the prime minister and business leaders before trip to windsor for meeting with the queen and inside windsor castle but not everyone thought the visit was

a great success. >> looks more comfortable straddling the world change next to vladimir putin than the prime minister. how can she justify sabotaging our secure economic relationship with our friends in the eu and create favors with a man who prides himself in shredding the rules-based order? >> that is not a question that can be answered for the reason the basis of the question is entirely wrong. >> reporter: a frantic few months for the government that weaved its way to crunch votes, crisis, division and opposition and a few unwelcome interventions thrown in. i asked blake if it was possible to predict where we would be in march next year. >> tried to predict the future in politics, a very risky business. a lot has happened in the last couple years that was not expected. that date is in everyone's

diary for 29 march 2019 when the uk is scheduled to leave, article 50, that it be extended. the date could be put back, the transition agreement could also be extended. it is very difficult to predict who will be in power. there may be a general election between now and when the uk is scheduled to leave the european union. a lot can happen in the weeks and months to come. >> reporter: donald trump made appointed intervention not just how he thought brexit should be done but who should be doing it. something a bit more serious. >> no doubt donald trump's comments the prospect of the trade deal between the uk and the us were dead in the water, and absolute bombshell that caught people in westminster offguard. people were horrified he would be coming here and saying that in such clear terms.

the prime minister was quick to dismiss it, from what the president said in the news conference, don't worry, it is only the press, but those words caused real concern and there was much relief when the president walked back his position considerably when the complexities of brexit were made clear to him. >> he said boris johnson would make a good prime minister. how did that go down? >> standing next to the prime minister and saying in his opinion boris johnson who had recently resigned as foreign secretary after making life tricky for teresa mae as prime minister, let's not forget he was a challenger to her and the conservative leadership alongside her, no doubt the president standing there and saying boris johnson would be a good prime minister was an uncomfortable moment for teresa mae and that is understating things. >> reporter: donald trump left the uk and went on to meet vladimir putin in helsinki, later announcing a plan for the

russian president to visit the white house in the autumn. the uk's relations with russia remained frosty after two people were poison will share with the same nerve agent used on the former i sergey and his daughter julia in march. there was a small bottle that was discarded, behind the attack on the state house. the uk government continue to point the finger at russia for the poisoning. >> completely unacceptable for our people to be either deliberately or accidentally targets or our street and tell city dumping ground for poison. >> reporter: this was now a murder investigation. >> with this incident we must be led by the evidence and it is hard to see another explanation. >> reporter: he gave the go-ahead for plans to expand heathrow airport to increase the annual capacity of the

airport from 85 million passengers to 130 million. hundreds of homes would have to be demolished and environmentalists have consistently opposed the plan. business leaders say a third runway is vital for the uk economy. construction is unlikely to be finished before 2026. >> all five of london's mainer ports will be full by the 2030s. what is happening is we are seeing business leave the united kingdom and go to frankfurt, amsterdam, paris, that made additional provisions. >> the third runway in heathrow in 2002, hong kong in 2011, in five years if we are to remain internationally competitive, does my right honorable friend agree we should get on that? >> you are asking me to come up with the most ill thought through, poorly worked out, badly articulated, on a wing

and a prayer, bad value for money, most polluting airport plan i could find, this would be it. >> 4000 homes will go. 8 to 10,000 people forcibly removed from their community. the biz ago forcible movement since the scottish -- a church, temple, community centers, open spaces, even our hospices threatened. >> reporter: in the midst of the hurly-burly was some happy news. congratulations to two big royal events. excitement outside a london hospital as the duchess of cambridge emerged carrying this little bottle, prince louis will be 50 line to the phone and the sixth great-grandchild. the news was relayed almost simultaneously to both houses getting politicians a chance to revisit their hearing. >> i am sure the whole house

would want to join me in sending their royal highnesses our warmest congratulations on the birth of their son. >> reporter: there were congratulations and tears when prince harry married megan markel in windsor in may as the pair exchanged vows, 600 guests at georgia's chapel. >> i proclaim they are husband and wife. >> reporter: another one of those things ministers have to learn to cope with, but in the battle against the islamic state group the defense secretary gavin williams and a new technique, heckling himself using his own phone. >> surrounding areas. >> serious support by the president. >> a very wrong business that is. but i do apologize for that.

this is very rare you are heckled by your own mobile phone. the help and support. >> that is it for now. we will be back with our daily roundup in september. in the meantime, they will be hard at work here in the palace of westminster. many voters will be looking at the government and wondering if teresa make and do the same. under reconstruction, big ben. goodbye. ♪ >> a lot of people feel i don't want my kid to read stories that are sad, disturbing, downbeat, whatever. that is not totally illegitimate thing to say i want to choose as a parent when

my kid understands stuff that might bring them grief but beyond which, they are 14 now, when are you going to introduce them to the idea not everything is perfect outside of your all white suburb. all of those factors swirled together to create the perfect dumpster fire of mass censorship. >> science fiction author corey doctorow will be our guest on in-depth fiction addition live sunday, august 5th at noon eastern discussing his latest book walk away. his other books include down and out in the magic kingdom, little brother, 14 other novels. interact with corey doctorow by twitter or facebook, our special series in-depth fiction addition with corey doctorow sunday, august 5th live from noon to 3:00 pm eastern on booktv on newseum.

>> german chancellor angela merkel held her summer news conference in berlin where she talked about domestic issues, trade relations with the us and donald trump's recent meeting in helsinki with russian president a putin. this 25 minute portion of the news conference also includes analysis and reaction from the english news desk. >> translator: to everyone, welcome. to a further press conference with the chancellor. you have the floor. >> i am glad someone is counting the number of press conferences. good morning, ladies and gentlemen. it is indeed the case of the encounter is a bit of a tradition. you want me to wait until