sirjohn major, who is now 81, i sirjohn major, who is now 81, talking to our correspondence.ting, related to her work on families and early childhood, was held at windsor castle. it is another sign of the recovery that is referred to as a return to light work. it allowed us to reflect and be grateful for the civil things in life. her return to public life is being carefully managed. last week's release of the family video, narrated by the princess, a sign that things were becoming more positive. i'm looking forward to being back at work. and undertaking a few more public engagements in the coming months and when i can. . , ,�* , , the coming months and when i can. . , can. the princess's first work meetin: can. the princess's first work meeting was _ can. the princess's first work meeting was held _ can. the princess's first work meeting was held at - can. the princess's first work meeting was held at windsorj meeting was held at windsor castle yesterday afternoon. view details of been released, but it was related to her families and early childhood projects. early years has

former prime minister sirjohn major has criticised the previous government's rwanda asylum plan, brandingamol rajan, sirjohn, who was tory pm from 1990 to 1997, said he thought the plan was "odious". it's a rare interview in which he was also very open about what he thinks has gone wrong for his party. let's take a listen. i can't help but note that you don't often do tv interviews these days, so i must start by asking why you've agreed to do this one. well, it's a rather unusual question, but i'll give you a strictly truthful answer. there were two reasons, really. one, because it was a lengthy interview, and i do think a large number of the short interviews i see merely produce soundbite answers. they don't really inform the public. and secondly, though i probably shouldn't say this, it's 65 years since i joined the conservative party. i was, am, and always will be a conservative. but in recent months, little longer than a few months, there's not been a great deal i could say that i would wish to say in favour of what the previous government were doing. that being so, i thought it bette

sirjohn major, very good to see you. thank you very much indeed for agreeing to speak to me. i can't help but note that you don't often do tv interviews these days, so i must start by asking why you've agreed to do this one. chuckles it's a rather unusual question but i'll give you a strictly truthful answer. there were two reasons, really. one, because it was a lengthy interview, and i do think a large number of the short interviews i see merely produce sound bite answers — they don't really inform the public. and secondly — though i probably shouldn't say this — it's 65 years since ijoined the conservative party. i was, am, and always will be a conservative. but for — in recent months — a little longer than a few months — there's not been a great deal i could say that i would wish to say in favour of what the previous government were doing. with that being so, i thought it betterjust stay off the air. now, of course, the election�*s behind us, the party's looking again to the future and i can — i can return to speaking out, hopefully in favour. well, there's a lot to get in

sirjohn major is perhaps the most unlikely of our modern british prime ministers.oreign secretary, then chancellor for margaret thatcher before replacing the iron lady as prime minister. file: the new prime minister, john major, moves into 10 - downing street. he picks a cabinet whose apparent emphasis is on party unity. but battles over europe, sleaze and party divisions threatened his leadership... in short, it is time to put up or shut up. ..and by the time he was unseated in 1997, it was to tony blair and a labour landslide. in a very rare interview, the man once held to epitomise our meritocratic ideals is passionate about what his party, his country and his generation need to do to fix britain's problems to restore its pride and thrive in the 21st century. sirjohn major, very good to see you. thank you very much indeed for agreeing to speak to me. i can't help but note that you don't often do tv interviews these days, so i must start by asking why you've agreed to do this one. chuckles it's a rather unusual question but i'll give you a strictly truthful answe

in an interview with bbc radio four today programme, sirjohn major attacked the rwanda scheme and thester didn't mince his words. >> he said this well, if you really wish to know, i thought it was unconservative un—british. >> if one dare say it in a secular society, unchristian and unconscionable. and i thought that really, this is not the way to treat people. we used to transport people nearly 300 years ago from our country, felons who at least had had a trial and been found guilty of something, albeit that the trial might have been cursory. i don't think transportation for that is what it is, is a policy suitable for the 21st century. >> well, i'm joined now by my most formidable panel, the former conservative cabinet minister, sir john redwood, former conservative cabinet minister, sirjohn redwood, and the historian and broadcaster tessa dunlop, john, you were in john major's cabinet all those years ago . un—christian, years ago. un—christian, unconscionable. he got a bit muddled at some points, but do you think he has a point? >> not at all. i think it was very over the top, and

i mean, john major, sir john i mean, john major, sirjohn major was very much used as a, if you like,r their mother died. for a prime minister, you know, to be called in. and this, i think, shows the desperation of boris, trying to keep the couple in the country, which goes against, really what harry was saying. many of this in his book about the people who tried to persuade him to stick around. it doesn't mean . doesn't mean. >> i think we've lost you there, charles rae. we've got a bit of a dodgy connection. so we had brexit. this was megxit, i'm afraid . charles rae we have afraid. charles rae we have checks it you simply lost you there. not to worry. we'll try and get you back in a minute. but the interesting thing about this is i wonder if anybody else wanted this pair to stay the sussexes, when they cleared off, i think it was very much a feeling they reached the end of their natural shelf life with their natural shelf life with the huge majority of the great british public, and i wonder what the point was of that intervention was it was deployed by downing street , deployed by

major backs tony blair. this pair honestly over brexit and migration immigration. sorry impact. so speaking to the bbc's amol rajan, sir john impact. so speaking to the bbc's amol rajan, sirjohnwith former labour prime minister tony blair that that far from reducing migration as proposed by nigel farage, good old nige gets a mention. boris johnson and others brexit exit from the eu has increased immigration and replaced europeans with more people from further afield. now interestingly, that's probably true. but one thing i would definitely argue in this case is it's not necessarily brexit that's caused that because brexit has given us the ability to manage our immigration policy and we've made no changes. you know, you could say no immigration whatsoever. net zero by tomorrow. you could say that it's within our power to do that now, but we haven't followed through. it's quite interesting that there's been figures released in the last few days which have changed the narrative a little bit on the economic benefits of immigration. i don't know whether you probably covered that on the programme i wasn't on, but i think they're saying 150 k per like individuals and so on. a distin