just before the biarritz summit he said he was happy to play the bad cop on brexit but there aren't suchs inside eu circles on the idea of an extension in reality. we are talking about public personas and what they believe behind closed doors. even to avoid a blame game. in the case of a no—deal brexit, eu leaders won't wa nt to no—deal brexit, eu leaders won't want to be seen to be the ones slamming the door in the face of the uk. it is hard to see circumstances where the eu don't grant an extension but threatening and moaning, plenty of that before we see an extension. if you don't subscribe to the brexit podcast, go and sign up to it. very easy to find, normally at the top of the charts on itunes and other distributors. the conservative party is under pressure on the issue of europe as perhaps never before. it has threatened in the past to split the tory party and it looks like it's the tory party and it looks like its beginning to happen. so michael fallon has announced he will not stand in the next election. he doesn't give any further reasons but another big beast of the party exit

but he had been on his feetjust a few in biarritz, in france.been on his feet just a few seconds when this happened. former conservative minister philip lee defected to the liberal democrats. the opposition cheered as he walked into the commons with newly elected jane dodds. he took his seat next to the party leader, joe swenson. and those few steps saw boris johnson's commons majority, which wasjust one, evaporate. borisjohnson made a statement. in the last few weeks, i believe the chances of a deal have risen. this week we are intensifying the pace of meetings in brussels. our european friends can see that we wa nt our european friends can see that we wantan our european friends can see that we want an agreement, and they are beginning to reflect that reality in their response. mr speaker, i returned from the g7 with real momentum in the brexit discussions. iwant...| momentum in the brexit discussions. i want... i want to return from next month's european council in a similar way, with a deal that this house can debate and scrutinise and endor

until we abandoned the backstop, then he changed his mind and he came to paris and to berlin and to biarritzt he wanted a deal, and chancellor merkel as well as president macron told him, well, come with ideas, come with proposals, which are credible, which respect the priorities that we set together — no hard border on the island of ireland, protection of the good friday agreement, peace and stability on the island of ireland, and consistency of the single market. so far i have not heard michel barnier, the european negotiator, coming back to us and saying, yes, there are new, credible proposals respecting these redlines. let me just clear up a couple of points of detail on ireland and then we can move on. first of all, there is mooted in london now the possibility that boris johnson, over the next few days, will suggest to the european negotiating team that britain might accept some form of northern ireland—only backstop, that is, that the british would accept that northern ireland would abide by the regulatory framework of the single market and the customs union, that the rest of the unit

he might have got on well with emmanuel macron in biarritz but that is not the same as going to brusselsals. theresa may tried for a long time to conduct this negotiation in the public domain and it does not work. you cannot release details and then parliament standing up to say it is i'io parliament standing up to say it is no good and the european parliament before even a proper discussion, it has to be done in a professional way because people around the table before it can be out in the public domain. theresa established her red line which meant there could be no ci’oss line which meant there could be no cross party consensus line which meant there could be no cfoss party consensus on line which meant there could be no cross party consensus on what brexit was. then boris johnson cross party consensus on what brexit was. then borisjohnson has let nigel farage write his red lines which the labour party will definitely not sign up to. his red lines are the only thing that got a majority in the house. would you vote tomorrow for a general election? if it means we are going to crash out w

week had started with borisjohnson reporting back on the summer's g7 summit in the french resort of biarritze dominated by brexit. he said he believed in the last few weeks the chances of an eu deal had risen — but that would be jeopardised by the bill that opposition and rebel tories planned to put forward to extend the brexit deadline. but labour said there was no sign that the government had put forward any new ideas. whilst the conservative philip lee caused a stir in the chamber when he walked in with two lib dem mps — and took up his seat next to jo swinson — a very public announcement of his defection to her party and a move that wiped out borisjohnson‘s commons majority. the longest serving mp — the father of the house — summed up what he said was boris johnson's strategy. to set conditions which make no deal inevitable, to make sure that as much blame as possible is attached to the eu and to this house for that consequence, and then as quickly as he can hype a flag—waving general election before the consequences of no deal become too obvious to the public. but borisjohnson insisted

you know when, in biarritz, he said that the g7, that tremendous progress was achieved? mean, no progress had been achieved, simply because the british government has failed so far to come up with alternatives to the irish backstop that provide, of course, the same solidity as the backstop. in fact what mr lambert said was the eu view, he believes, is what would be the best thing now is for if an election is to take place, then for there to be an extension because he believes may be borisjohnson's plan is to have an election in the aftermath of that. if there is no clear outcome in the uk, the uk can tumble out by default at the end of 0ctober so he says an extension is necessary to get clarity and to have a clear outcome of the whole process. damian grammaticas in brussels, thank you. over the past couple of days borisjohnson has seen his narrow majority wiped out in the commons. first, former tory mp phillip lee defected to the liberal democrats, then a further 21 mps were booted out of the party after voting against the government. christian fraser looks at how the nu

few weeks, you will remember he went to see angela merkel in berlin and macron in paris and that biarritzop when he was out there, he spoke to me and other reporters and said that he was feeling optimistic, he felt that his message, that the backstop, that guarantee which means there won't be any checks or harboured on the island of ireland, he said they understand now that that has to go and he felt that message has landed is the way that he put it to me. whether that's true or not of course is another matter. it's true that those leaders did not stand next to him and say, we will not reopen the withdrawal agreement, on the other hand, they are still talking about wanting to see the alternative proposals that would replace the backstop. i think there is maybe, the door hasn't been slammed in his face but many people, interestingly, including some of his own mps are wondering how much progress there really has been. i spoke to one tory mp he was against no deal, who said to me that he had thought that boris johnson was serious about a deal but 110w johnson was serious about a deal but now

pm sanchez: i had the opportunity to meet with him in biarritz at the g7 summit, and we had a conversation that was really positive. i think we will guarantee the rights and the freedom of citizens in the u.k. and spain. reporter: spain's economy is very affected by brexit, arguably the third most affected after britain and ireland. pm sanchez: it is indeed. it is one of the major economies in the european union. we receive a lot of tourism coming from britain, and we appreciate the british tourism. that is by it is so important for us to be ready in case we have a no deal brexit. reporter: another big issue in brexit at the moment is the scottish. if the scots decide if the british leave, perhaps the nato deal, and the scots have a referendum, the last time there was eva referendum -- perhaps a no deal, and he scots have a referendum, the last time there was a referendum, they said they did not want to leave the european union. if they wanted to come back to the european union, would spain be more welcoming? pm sanchez: that is a very tough question. think it is a domestic political issue

i will make a statement about the g7 summit in biarritz.to work, to start a family, open a business, trade and invest. so, at the g7, i made the case for free trade as an engine of prosperity and progress that has lifted millions out of poverty, and yet the reality is that trade is a sheet of the world economy has been stag na nt sheet of the world economy has been stagnant for the last decade. in the latest regulation, the g7 yunus malli and doors open and fair world trade, and we are determined to reform the wto and reach agreement next year to simplify regulatory barriers. britain is on the verge of taking back control of our trade policy and restoring our independent seat end of the wto for the first time in 46 years. our exports to give the united states... order! order, order! reserve your seat. thank you, prime minister. i ask the house to have some regard to how our proceedings are viewed by people outside the chamber. i will always facilitate the expression of opinion by this house... order! meanwhile, the prime minister is making

not to be bad at this kind of diplomacy, quite positive conversations coming in the run—up to the biarritzudejuncker, so maybe there are some interesting things to say. europe would probably like a deal, it is much betterfor europe to have a deal than no deal, even if the effect on the uk will be more severe than the rest of europe, but ireland definitely want to deal, because no deal is very bad for them. mps taking control of the parliament and saying that they could come back and ask for another extension, but many are thinking it might bea extension, but many are thinking it might be a relief to both sides if we could get this thing done by the 3ist we could get this thing done by the 31st of october. thank you very much your time. some of us have been enjoying a final fling with the weather this weekend. is it going to continue? we are moving into a very settled speu we are moving into a very settled spell of weather for the week ahead. what might come as a shock are some quite chilly start. it is quite typical when we move into autumn as high pressure builds and we have light winds a

borisjohnson had been lying about what was going on in the negotiations, lying at the g7 summit in biarritzas being made, because this member of the steering committee said that simply isn't true. so yes, very difficult to build anything on that, but even more difficult for the eu i think is the fact that if an election looks like it's about to be called in the uk, why would they negotiate anything here because they know whatever is discussed could all be thrown out by a new prime minister injust a be thrown out by a new prime minister in just a few weeks' time? damien, thank you. hurricane dorian is making its way up the east coast of america, with storm warnings in place for north and south carolina having wrought devastation in the bahamas where the united nations arrived today and immediately pledged $1 million in emergency aid. the death toll is now 23, but that is expected to rise. it's caused the worst damage and loss of life on the abaco islands, where its estimated that at least 70,000 people require aid. from there aleem maqbool sent this report. treasure quay was one of the most

conversations with our partners in europe and cleared the prime minister had a very successful g7 meeting in biarritz is a big difference between those friendly general conversations and the hard miles of detailed negotiation of text. the prime minister wants to remove the whole of the backstop from the withdrawal agreement andl of the backstop from the withdrawal agreement and i think that probably is setting the bar too high to be achievable. even if we only talk about modifications to the backstop that will require huge amounts of detailed negotiation and drafting. we do not even have a negotiating team any more, but has been stood down so we do not have the wherewithal, we have seen no progress, we have made no proposals to the european union yet. and the clock is ticking. we need to get on with this if we are genuine about seeking an agreement. philip hammond and other tory mps have been in to see the prime minister today and others are saying the prime minister right now is borisjohnson tries to persuade them not to vote against the government tonight. not to change the law in order to make him

until we abandoned the backstop, then he changed his mind and he came to paris and to berlin and to biarritzhat he wanted a deal, and chancellor merkel as well as president macron told him, "well, come with ideas, come with proposals, which are credible, which respect the priorities that we set together — no hard border on the island of ireland, protection of the good friday agreement, peace and stability on the island of ireland, and consistency of the single market." so far i have not heard michel barnier, the european negotiator, coming back to us and saying, yes, there are new, credible proposals respecting these redlines. let me just clear up a couple of points of detail on ireland and then we can move on. first of all, there is mooted in london now the possibility that boris johnson, over the next few days, will suggest to the european negotiating team that britain might accept some form of northern ireland—only backstop, that is, that the british would accept that northern ireland would abide by the regulatory framework of the single market and the customs union, that the rest of the