we will talk about that with lord peter hain injust a moment. details about a reshuffle. what's happening there? very interestingly, the brexit unit, whose office is just down at the end of downing street, two of the ministers have been taken out of that unit, just a week before the talks are due to start. the people she has brought in, one of them is eye—catching, not anyone anyone might now outside of westminster, a backbencher, very much one of the brexiteers, he has been corralling the tory mps, he has been brought in as mrto the tory mps, he has been brought in as mr to that department. she is trying to balance him with others who were on the remain side. but he is coming in there, and that will reassure those on the brexit side who are concerned that there might be some backsliding from the government because of the uncertain election result, a lot of remain mps saying this means that hard brexit, leaving the single market, some are saying that is off the cards. steve baker thinks that a clean brexit where we get out, we control our own la

peter hain, lord lane, thank you very much for your thoughts this morning.theresa may, the status of it, we may hear more about that tomorrow in terms of how much progress, or not, has been made, but it is very clear that everyone feels the situation is incredibly volatile in politics right now, very uncertain, perhaps to an unparalleled degree in many people's memories, and boris johnson, as we know, has denied that he is preparing to take over from theresa may, but he hasn't said that in so many words, he said the reports were tripe, and as we heard from one of our guests a short while ago, there are so many nuances to read into a description like that. we will have much more on the unfolding situation at westminster through the morning but right now, it is back to ben in the studio. thank you very much indeed. the latest headlines on bbc news: downing street and the democratic unionist party have both issued state m e nts unionist party have both issued statements overnight making clear that a deal between them has yet to be finalised. borisjohnson has di

the former northern ireland secretary peter hain has said the prospect of this could be really calamitousce process moving forward. sinn fein said there were to start talks immediately about power—sharing again and their view is that this kind of association between the dup and the conservatives isn't permissible because of the good friday agreement. exactly. the westminster government are supposed to be neutral to try and find a balance between them. john major had no majority in the house of commons when he was prime minister but he would not get in to bed with the dup because he knew how damaging it would be. theresa may comes out on the early hours of friday morning with no sleep, she is straight on the phone to them, she doesn't care. what she cares about insuring up her... power. she cares about how power. the other story on the front page is drop hard exit, demand mps. there will be pressure from all sides, remainers, leave us,... this isa sides, remainers, leave us,... this is a massive problem she has, even with the dup, she has this time majority in parliament and it means every

peter hain said the prime minister cannot play party politics with northern ireland.e dup and the conservatives would be hugely detrimental to confidence a botox, according to sinn fein. —— to talks. i do not agree with peter. he is very happy for senior republicans like gerry adams and is now a prominent member of the republic of ireland cabinet, but i said back when i was negotiating a deal with the ulster unionists back in 2010, i said they do not see why he talented northern ireland citizens should be excluded from politics. once the belfast agreement had been signed and brought huge benefits after huge stage by the governments and i thought the key thing about it would be that after that, the republicans would play a key pa rt that, the republicans would play a key part in british politics. there is no indication of that happening. the problem we have is our local level that. i am the problem we have is our local levelthat. i am sorry the problem we have is our local level that. i am sorry for interrupting you, but we are having a major problem with the sound. we

lord peter hain is a labour peer and a former secretary of state for northern ireland.e this as a hasty deal. in reality, these talks between the conservatives and the dup have been going on for a long time, haven't they? yes, they have. i think that i have been very concerned about is a former secretary of state is that the conservative party under david cameron and under theresa may has not been sufficiently neutral and nonpartisan in this whole process, andi nonpartisan in this whole process, and i don't say that from a party point of view was that i say that because traditionally in parliament, northern ireland politics has been bipartisan between government and opposition. i say it because you've got to be neutral and you cannot afford to be tied to any one faction, any one party, in northern ireland. that's the only way i could do myjob, the only way i found i was trusted by ian paisley, the then leader of the dup and martin mcguinness, who became his deputy first minister, and his colleague gerry adams, as well as the other party leaders. and the concern that i h

we heard from peter hain. there will be other ones, as well.inster and get you enough votes in westminster, but beware how this is read back in northern ireland. and the potential impact on trying to get sinn fein back into some kind of power—sharing executive. we have already said it with sinn fein saying they do not any longer regard the british government as neutral. they want an independent arbiter. they want an independent arbiter. the real danger is not only the legal difficulty in the belfast agreement, which says the british government must be rigorously impartial, it is more practicality in that sinn fein be very reluctant to go into any kind of deal with the dup if they are seen as being in cahoots with the british government. it would mean doing a deal with them, which they are not going to do. although the northern ireland secretary said that these are entirely separate things, restoring devolved government in northern ireland and the deal in westminster are entirely separate, that is not how sirjohn major sees it but how is it seen

powell, mrblair‘s former chief of staff who was very involved in day—to—day negotiations here and peter hainretary for mrblair at the time whenever the dup and sinn fein finally struck a deal to go into power—sharing. that got devolution running here in 2007. so the fact that now you have a senior conservative coming out, a former conservative coming out, a former conservative prime minister, alongside former senior figures conservative prime minister, alongside former seniorfigures in the labour government during the peace process, i think it shows that there is a degree of consensus perhaps among people who were involved in the peace process at a senior level from the british government side, that there is going to bea government side, that there is going to be a problem caused by the prospective linkup between the dup and the tories at westminster. the current northern ireland secretary, james brokenshire, has been clear, he said as far as he is concerned the efforts to restore the power—sharing and devolved government at stormont which collapsed in january government at stormont which co

also worth telling you that after 5pm we will be talking to peter hain, who was of course at one time get his thoughts on all this, particularly in light of the comments made at lunchtime bursarjohn major. more from here to come. for now, back to rebecca and julie. just me actually, jane! but good to see you. more now on that breaking news that the european court of human rights has extended an interim measure requiring doctors to continue to care for the terminally ill baby charlie gard until midnight next monday. with us is our correspondent, what more can you tell us? a bit of background to give you some context. charlie gard was born in august last year with a rare progressive genetic condition which essentially wastes his muscles and damages his brain. he is severely brain—damaged, he cannot see, here, move, or swallow unaided. brain—damaged, he cannot see, here, move, orswallow unaided. he brain—damaged, he cannot see, here, move, or swallow unaided. he is being kept alive at great ormond street hospital with a ventilator and feeding tube. his parents want the right to take trol

let's speak to peter hain, who was northern ireland secretary towards the end of tony blair's premiershipely, direct rule from westminster. i thought i was the last direct rule secretary of state in 2007, and i said so at the time, and we got ian paisley and martin mcguinness to share power together in that historic settlement. to turn the clock back to direct rule, and stormont has now been suspended for six months, and it's very serious, would be to roll back the years on the good friday agreement and all the progress that has been made towards peace and stability. the secretary of state needs to avoid that at all costs. i think the way to do it is to bring both the prime minister and the taoiseach in, to convene a higher level summit than has been possible, or has been secured up to now, and have a really intensive soakers —— intensive focus over the next hours and days to sort this out. when we spoke a couple of weeks ago in the aftermath of the election, you talk to me about your concern about the impact that a tory— dup deal would have on these talks. from what we are hearing, that