jonathan blake is at westminster for us jonathan blake is at westminster for us andi jonathan blake is are not talks between jeremy pointing out that these are not talks betweenjeremy corbyn and the premise are. it was their teams. senior ministers from the government side, stephen barclay and david lidington and on the labour side, the shadow boxes secretary keir starmer, rebecca long bailey, the shut up as a secretary and a couple others making up the numbers. and the idea is to find some kind of consensus as to an agreement that they can come to in the shape of a brexit deal or an aspirational brexit deal or an aspirational brexit deal or an aspirational brexit deal they could put to the house of commons to get mps to back. but as you say two days of talks, another four and a half hours or so today, and no breakthrough. we are told the talks are expected to continue tomorrow but both sides would say at the end of the talks today was that there were details, technical discussions and they hope to continue them tomorrow. in terms of the substance of what they are discussing, we don't

jonathan blake is with now. we are ina jonathan blake is with now. find support any house of commons handbrake the brexit deadlock. i think the prime minister will probably face pressure from some of her own backbenchers who are deeply uneasy about this idea that seems to be in the offing from brussels, offering a longer extension, which could potentially see the uk taking part in elections for the european parliament. interesting to see whatjeremy corbyn will do, because on that one had he has to play the sensible pragmatic politician, engaging in those talks with the government, we are told on his side, both sides, in good faith, but may well be looking to make hay with back that the prime minister is having to ask for an extension of which he never really wa nted extension of which he never really wanted to have to do. she said herself in the house of commons not long ago that she would not be willing to extend the brexit process beyond the end ofjune. that is the date she asked for by the us more likely to offer something longer. the prime minist

our political correspondent jonathan blakejoins us our political correspondent jonathan blake joins use latest. jonathan, is there anything to report, because there seems to be some confusion from both parties, whether talks are continuing between the government and labour this weekend. i'll make it is a confused picture, and in terms of the last one he for hours, doesn't seem that there's been any progress at all. those talks broke up on friday evening with a different point of view put forward by each side. labour saying they were disappointed that the government hadn't made any real compromise, all suggested that the political declaration, the part of theresa may's brexit deal which sets out our future relationship of the eu could be changed. at all. but downing street said they had made serious proposals, and that they we re serious proposals, and that they were willing to make changes to the political declaration, so where are we? well this mining the chancellor philip hammond struck an upbeat tone, and said in contrast to what labour had accused the government of, they didn't hav

i was jonathan i wasjonathan blake speaking to me earlier.retary has ordered an investigation in the military, after it emerged that six soldiers were arrested following an allegation of sexual assault. it's claimed a teenage female recruit was assaulted by male colleagues. the head of the army, general sir mark carleton—smith, said the allegations were being taken very seriously. simonjones reports. a damaging week for the army. in the words of its leader, general sir mark carleton—smith. responding to allegations of a sexual assault by troops. the sun newspaper says a female soldier woke to find a group of men standing over her. they had reportedly been drinking. she screamed. six men from an army sports club have been arrested. the chair of the general staff in a message to his troops said, where serious allegations are proven against members of the army, including allegations of a violent or sexual nature, the defence secretary gavan williamson wrote on twitter, horrified to hear of these allegations. there is no place for these kind of a

our political correspondent jonathan blakejoins me our political correspondent jonathan blake joins metical correspondent jonathan blakejoins me now, are the redlines, or in their redlines, where are we with this? to depends which side you ask, what we've seen over the last day or so isa we've seen over the last day or so is a standoff between the government and labour after two days of talks, which have produced frankly very little, they broke up yesterday with the statements from both sides, labour saying they waited disappointed at the governments apparent unwillingness to compromise and change the detail of the political deck relation, which sets out our future relationship with the eu, and the government saying they had put forward serious proposals, and infact had put forward serious proposals, and in fact they were open to pursuing changes to the political declaration. so it was a bit of a shrug of the shoulders all around frankly. today though, this morning, the chancellor who we will hear from ina the chancellor who we will hear from in a second, struck an upbeat tone about th

jonathan blake has been looking at the statement in detail and he joins me now.t does not look like anything new but it is the tone which is interesting. yes, nothing new in terms of the substance but it isa new in terms of the substance but it is a timely warning, as you say, to some conservative mps and mps across the house that the options are to either back a deal she is hoping to reach with the labour party or to allow a long extension to the brexit process and possibly even a remain in the eu long—term. she begins by saying that delivering brexit has been her priority. she wanted to do with the deals she negotiated. she has been left with no choice but to reach out across parliament. she attem pts reach out across parliament. she atte m pts to reach out across parliament. she attempts to reassure proponents of brexit in her party, perhaps nervous or angry that the government is even talking to labour, but in fact both parties want to enter free movement, they want to leave with a good deal, and they want to protect jobs. they want to leave with a good deal,

our political correspondent, jonathan blake, explained to me — how we got to this point. in the lastny progress at all. those talks broke up on friday evening with a different point of view put forward by each side. labour saying they were disappointed that the government hadn‘t made any real compromise, all suggested that the political declaration, the part of theresa may‘s brexit deal which sets out our future relationship of the eu could be changed. at all. but downing street said they had made serious proposals, and that they were willing to make changes to the political declaration, so where are we? well this morning the chancellor philip hammond struck an upbeat tone, and said in contrast to what labour had accused the government of, they didn‘t have any red lines and they were up for talking, and they were listening to ideas. here‘s what he had to say in bucharest. we expect to exchange more text with the labour party today and the talks are ongoing. this is an ongoing process and i'm optimistic that we will make some form of agreement later. philip hammond something positive

jonathan blake at westminster. let's just take a closer look at the brexit delay.date from the european union has changed frequently over the last frantic weeks of negotiations. initially, the uk was due to leave on 29 march. this was then put back to 12 april, next friday, but if the uk parliament could vote through a deal, there was the opportunity for the uk to stay until 22 may so the necessary preparations could be made. however, this morning, theresa may wrote to the european council president, donald tusk, asking for an extension to 30 june. she also said that the uk would make preparations to field candidates in the european parliamentary elections, which take place on 23 may. however, there have been indications that the european union might want to offer a longer extension of up to a year but that if an agreement was reached by the uk parliament, the uk could leave earlier. let's speak to the conservative mep come in our brussels studio. good evening. thank you very much for joining us. how keen are you to stand in these elections in may? not at all. i th

laura kuenssberg with that report and our political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster withw is she going to use it? she will try to do what she has been doing for the last six months and a longer. that is to get a deal, some sort of an agreement through the house of commons. and to leave the european union, you heard there in lower‘s rapport, as soon as possible. with the challenge for her to do that remains an incredibly difficult. —— laura's report. she will carry on with government and the short term, we'll talk between minister and the labour party to try and find some sort of a compromise where they can adapt the political declaration which sets the future relationship ina which sets the future relationship in a broad terms between the uk and the eu to see if that can find support of the house of commons. if those talks come to nothing come at the prime minister said today, at the prime minister said today, at the despatch box the government will put forward a series of scenarios for possible brexit outcomes that mps would then vote on. in a similar way to they have do

some members of the party are calling for him to be deselected. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blakewhat is the fallout to this been so far, jonathan? this happened at an eventin far, jonathan? this happened at an event in central london this morning, where ukip began their campaignfor morning, where ukip began their campaign for the forthcoming european parliamentary elections, where a dozen or so other candidates we re where a dozen or so other candidates were on the stage, and the leader made a speech saying, under the banner, you told them once, you told them again, that the leave vote in them again, that the leave vote in the 2016 referendum had been cynically and deliberately betrayed by the political class. many of the med candidates there were the sort of people you would expect to be running for european elections, former councillors, long—standing members of the party, but then there we re members of the party, but then there were two who were brought on stage saying to the audience thought would like some controversy towards the end of the event. 0ne like some controversy

. >> aaron blake, this is -- to jonathan lemire's exact point. this seems to be the argument that many nancy pelosi is making to her rank and file members. she has several that say impeach the president, she's saying, look, what we really could do to win is this strategy we're pursuing, put as much information about this president out there as possible. and let the voters make up their minds. >> i think it's been remarkably successful so far, as far as holding off this impeachment fervor that exists within parts of the democratic base. you refer to a poll where maybe the support for impeachment had dropped a little bit. if you look at polling on this question over the last several months, this is a 75% issue for democratic base voters. we have a lot of presidential candidates, a lot of candidates who may be trying to appeal to these voters who this would seem to be a no-brainer, why wouldn't you come out in favor of impeaching the president, when so many of your base voters want that to be the case. the fact that we haven't seen this kind of over

blake. with us at the table, careen john pierre, and jonathan lemire. let me start with you phil rucker. this weekend was remarkable only if you haven't been following trump the last two to three years. he wins and goes on the attack to make sure that even he knows that he didn't win at all. >> nicole, it was a happy easter down in mar-a-lago. the president was so focussed on this mueller report and privately he was really upset and pointing his ire at don mcghan, the white house counsel because he shows up in those footnotes again and again and again, revealing some very damaging scenes to mueller and the investigators. but it's important to remember why mcghan cooperated so fully with the special counsel and why so many of the other white house officials cooperated. that's because of a decision that trump and his lawyers made at the outset of this investigation to fully cooperate. it was president trump who waived executive privilege to allow his white house aides to sit for interviews and become witnesses to sit for the special counsel at a decision made at the urging of ty cobb and j

. >> jonathan, how do you think democrats are going to receive obama's warning. >> i take that a little differently than blake. rather than him sort of building a bridge between two flanks in the party, i think what president obama is doing is taking sides there between those who -- between those who have the greater lidge rigidity, thes test, and those who want to take on ideology and policy and those like the president who have a more measure measured and incremental approach to it. the big criticism of president obama from the left is that he was not bold enough once he got into office that he didn't charge hard enough. i think a lot of the folks on the left who made those criticisms, look at what president trump is doing and why won't a democratic president do that when he gets in office? and i think those who agree with president obama say that's not a good way to get things done in the long term. i actually think he's sort of siding with what you would call the left of center. sort of the moderate left of center set when he says that, when he says he thinks the democratic party should get into a sick lr

earlier we spoke to jonathan blake, our political correspondent, and asked him what was in mrs may'sment. nothing hugely new from theresa may in terms of substance, but it is a timely appeal to mps in her own party and across the house of commons to give their support to whatever deal she is hoping to agree with the labour party. she starts off by saying that delivering brexit has been her priority since she became prime minister, and her strong preference was to do that with a deal she had agreed with the eu. but she acknowledges that can't command the level of support she needs in the house of commons, so the only option she is left with is to reach out and try to compromise with the opposition labour party. she reminds her own party who are perhaps a bit nervous, or even angry at the fact that she is sitting down with the labour party to discuss brexit, that in fact the two sides to agree in some areas. they want to end freedom of movement, leave with a good deal, and protectjobs. she says though, the longer this process takes the greater the risk of the uk never leaving at all. w

considers a request from the uk to delay brexit until the end ofjune. 0ur political correspondent, jonathan blake me earlier how we got to this point. in the last 2a hours there doesn't seem that there's been any progress at all. those talks broke up on friday evening with a different point of view put forward by each side. labour saying they were disappointed that the government hadn't made any real compromise, all suggested that the political declaration, the part of theresa may's brexit deal which sets out our future relationship of the eu could be changed, at all. but downing street said they had made serious proposals, and that they were willing to make changes to the political declaration, so where are we? well this morning the chancellor philip hammond struck an upbeat tone, and said in contrast to what labour had accused the government of, they didn't have any red lines and they were up for talking, and they were listening to ideas. here's what he had to say in bucharest. the conversations with the labour party are continuing. they were continuing last night. we expect to exchange more te

we are nowjoined by our political correspondent jonathan blake in westminster.in that news conference this morning was talking about the discussions going on here between the conservatives and labour, he cold them a new element ina labour, he cold them a new element in a serious and complex situation and expressed expectation and hope that this dialogue would lead to something. are you hearing any sounds or signs that it might be? no real progress on those talks this morning, i think they are at something of an impasse, although the conversations are still happening, the process is still ongoing on both sides are making the point that they don't want to rush this, but there is an element of urgency as ministers and shadow ministers on the labour side sit down and continue those talks about where possibly the government and labour party may be able to come to an agreement on some sort of compromise revised brexit deal but as the prime minister heads to continental europe for those high—level discussions with the chancellor in germany, angela merkel and president

compromise, they are both being pulled apart by their respective parties. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blakereports that the letter is being drawn up at the moment by the government to send to jean—claude juncker to ask for the extension but there are some disagreements about the timing for that extension and how long it is going to be. what are you hearing on that? that letter would be sent the day before the eu council summit next week. they don't have to do it until that deadline, just 24 hours before the eu 27 leaders plus theresa may meet in brussels, and i would not expect it to be sent before that. it may well be an early d raft before that. it may well be an early draft is in production and the fact that people in cabinet are split on how long the extension should be as fio how long the extension should be as no surprise at all, because we know very well the cabinet is deeply divided over brexit, at this point it has been for some time. they disagree on what necessarily the prime minister's next move may be in private, albeit signing up to that process of talks with the labour party