he confirmed that he was against no deal plenty of other tory m.p.'s of said they're against a deal as well no deal simply doesn't have the numbers in parliament no but if if if they're just to go through it again if they don't want no deal and they don't want her deal either in the fullness of time then there isn't any alternative is there but to suspend article fifty the bit of about leaving the european union in time until they can figure something else out that's right you can suspend article fifty what you could do is either extend it with the unanimous consent of the e.u. will revoke it altogether and the european court of justice has just confirmed that we can unilaterally revoke it so we don't need the permission of the e.u. anymore we can stop breaks at any time you like before we actually leave and that is incredibly important because if we are heading towards an ideal scenario m m p's can it actually force the government's hand and say no we must instead either have a referendum and then vote or just vote ok stay with us and as evening goes

s would block he's being nominated and the tory m.p.'s make the choice about which two candidates to choose from i think a large piece of realize boris isn't really a politician he wants to be a celebrity as you're going into show business he doesn't have a political agenda and they don't trust him until so i think tory m.p.'s will make absolutely certain the winterreise in my stand that they will not give the party membership a choice of boris i'll give you thirty seconds came from kevin on so later just to give you soapbox and all this fiasco you touched on it just now over the plan tory infighting what a shambles it is to what extent with all this going on are the domestic issues in the u.k. being overlooked health care education police family benefits system blah blah blah do you think they're being sidelined for breakfast. well that this is the problem we've actually had over the last eight years this is the worst government of my lifetime they've made the most massive cuts we've ever seen in health care and education we've got so m

casting of the ballots has kicked off just minutes ago with tory m.p.'s having to essentially put a cross on a piece of paper with either i have confidence for theresa may or i do not have confidence for to resign me and this moment is really seen as a political crescendo for her premiership this is something that's been speculated about for weeks on end. taking place really amidst what is seen as one of the deepest crises in this country within decades really so what happens tonight is seen as extremely crucial of course and is quite divisive and already has been with so many different opinion in terms of opinions in terms of where bracks it what kind of sheep should have now just to clarify this is a secret ballot and what's required is a simple majority so theresa may to either win or lose would have to see fifty percent plus we want to vote so the number she needs to win is one hundred fifty nine votes out of three hundred seventeen tory m.p.'s and basically if she wins this vote she gets to stick around and carry out her plans of she loses she has t

drama has triggered a challenge to to resume a's leadership of her governing conservative party tory m.p.'s will vote in the coming hours to decide her fate prime minister may has responded defiantly saying she'll face the vote of confidence with everything she's got she's insisting the challenge from more than forty eight of her own m.p.'s does risk derailing the brics a process. a change of leadership in the conservative party now will put our country's future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it. a new leader wouldn't be in place by the twenty first of january legal deadline so a leadership election risks handing control of the bricks in negotiations to opposition m.p.'s in parliament the new leader wouldn't have time to renegotiate a withdrawal agreement and get the legislation through parliament by the twenty ninth of march so one of their first acts would have to be extending or rescinding article fifty delaying or even stopping breck's it we have two correspondents covering the story in a moment we'll speak to dominic cain in brussels on the reaction from eur

in two weeks ago but another clump of tory m.p.'s i think have been genuinely disheartened by what's happened in poland this week by the prime minister's decision to pull out votes on the withdrawal agreement and so actually on top of the brics it is had already put their names in a number of remain minded tory m.p.'s now are fed up so the math is getting worse for the prime minister doesn't necessarily mean she'll lose but certainly her position isn't a strong as it was a fortnight ago and it's not simply a question of winning by one vote is it really she's got to win by a comfortable magick margin in order to have sufficient authority to carry on do you think that's the case well i mean that's the conventional wisdom but of course the thing about britain at the moment is the conventional wisdom has been torn up every day and this is a prime minister who obviously doesn't want to quit so even though for instance if you go back to margaret thatcher she won the votes of no confidence but not by enough in her estimation to hang on we

vote to replace mrs may if there are more than two contenders a secret vote would be held amongst tory m.p.'s and the two remaining contenders would then face a postal ballot of all conservative party members of this could go on for quite some time whoever takes charge of the party will become the next prime minister but won't necessarily face a general election we heard from john ashmore deputy editor of the british online news website capek's who says a change of leader isn't guaranteed to resolve the concerns around brags that. i don't see a clear path at the moment for her to get her deal through parliament anyway so we're stuck in this very strange kind of impasse where the city is on the right of the conservative party want to get rid of theresa may but there's no real sign of a coherent plan on their side either and it's worth remembering in all this as well that let's say that a city or a lever does oust to reason may well their version of brace is not necessarily going to appeal to the more program main wing of the conservative party so it's kind of like a parliamentary game of wh

going to be a leadership bid against two reason may want she was out of the country forty eight tory m.p.'s have to trigger some let is to say that they want it to be a leadership contest at the moment they have not reached that number it's fifteen percent of the tory party but we are we are a leadership what shifts have not been going on secondly there's been a debate in the house of commons it was called by the main opposition the labor party it hasn't really done anything it's just a chance for these m.p.'s to say that they were furious that reason they pulled this vote yesterday to want many people want many m.p.'s want to happen is that the labor party trick is a vote of no confidence in the entire government and that would therefore in some way perhaps help them get closer to a second vote a second referendum of people's votes if you like but at the moment labor not doing that they say that they they wouldn't get the support for it and anyway their leader jeremy corbyn is also a euro skeptics and watchful it's going on here in the you know we've used the entrance of the arctic many

that's the number that you need to be looking out for as the evening progresses not the number of tory m.p.'s who need to vote in support of the prime minister now a lot of media projections here are suggesting that that figure has been reached that that number of m.p.'s is that they will back to reason may in the vote but let's be very clear this is a secret ballot being taken place it's very possible that m.p.'s particularly members if i cabinet may be publicly supporting her privately no one's going to know how they're going to vote perhaps they will rebel against her that's because have breck's a deal what she's agreed with the european union has proved extremely unpopular largely in parliament they've been a lot of concerns that she hasn't got enough concessions from the european union so she is going to have to convince m.p.'s in the coming hours that had a deal is the best deal and that instead they face possibly new parts of it too so talk us through the timetable of this photons tonight. that's right first series i'm a will in dress the m.p.'s that will be voting for her then the

the standing outside the british parliament and she'd been talking to tory m.p. been cash moving now to another developing story french police on the hunt for a gunman who opened fire on your christmas market in the city of book on tuesday night three people died and thirteen injured strasbourg is the canted close to the french german border it's home to the european parliament and a christmas market that draws. as millions of people every year that market is on a plastic labor right in the heart of. witnesses say the shootings took place in streets nearby government officials say they're treating the incident as a possible terrorist attack the suspect is a trained nine year old with a criminal history who had been flagged by authorities as a possible extrusion missed. the panic was an international manhunt arrives in the back streets of strasburg. clarinet and go go one resident as an unwitting cyclist heads straight into the danger. armed police there now of. hundreds of special forces have been deployed to find the suspected gunman checking homes cars and bord

that was a conservative tory m.p. bill cash with me in the studio not is john worth he's a political blogger and analysts who's been following all of these brags of developments closely full of these past months welcome john b. hard to resent me earlier she sounded resolute and determined you've got to give it to her she's not going down without a big fight that's true and theresa may has been quite actually personally courageous you must say throughout this whole process whereas the amount of support that she she's got it's eroding away she has no backing for her breaks a deal and now with her conservative party members of parliament trying to no confidence but still she keeps on trying to fight on further it's quite personally courageous in missouri but she did make a compelling case didn't she when she said that if there is a leadership challenge nothing in the fundamentals of the negotiations will change and that arithmetic is the bottom to support it there i have to disagree with the reason made to a certain exte

drama has triggered a challenge to series amazed leadership of governing conservative party now tory m.p.'s will vote in the coming hours specifically at eighteen hours g.m.t. six pm local time prime minister may responding with defiance saying she'll face the vote of confidence with everything she says she insists the challenge from more than forty eight of her own m.p.'s risks derailing the brics it process. a change of leadership in the conservative party now will put our country's future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it a new leader wouldn't be in place by the twenty first of january legal deadline so a leadership election risks handing control of the brics in negotiations to opposition m.p.'s in parliament. the new leader wouldn't have time to renegotiate a withdrawal agreement and get the legislation through parliament by the twenty ninth of march so one of their first acts would have to be extending or rescinding article fifty delaying or even stopping breck's it. well i was just a few hours ago this is live to resume now on her feet inside the house of c

pointing out that if one hundred seventeen can serve then please that's almost forty percent of tory m.p.'s here in the parliament have no confidence in their leader eighty's effectively impossible for to resume a whenever it happens to come back to parliament and get her deal through it means effectively that she has to get at least one hundred seventeen and probably more opposition m.p.'s to support and they are in absolutely no mood to do that at all because what they want is an entirely different deal that keeps the u.k. in a much closer and stronger long term relationship with the european union and so in the coming days i think tomorrow thursday and friday two things are going to happen first of all trees and they will have to brussels for the european council meeting which will have to say to the e.u. twenty seven look you need to give me something at least some sort of assurance that the u.k. won't be stuck in a long term economic relationship with the e.u. that's to assuage the hardliners in her own party and yet at the same time there's going to be a growing body of opposition

won't take a seriously and there are one hundred seventeen tory m.p.'s he will probably vote against the deal no matter what she brings but because they can't support her as leader let me bring in julia no is here from london also you wrote an article that said keep calm and carry on negotiating is that still the case right now. i don't think we consider still the case any longer because of the fact that the e.u. has itself said that it is no longer negotiating you have even though you have sebastian could saying that they're going to work together to prevent an earlier brags it's all that means is that the ear is going to try to help to reason and get this deal through. they are has already said that he's not going so france is not interesting negotiating this is not into negotiating this de most of the e.u. will be able to offer to reason that this point is a few clarification's a few notes and maybe even as was said yesterday the possibility of trip continuing the trade negotiations even if the backstop comes into effect tom brooks and everybody seem

won't take it seriously and there are one hundred seventeen tory m.p.'s it will probably very scared to deal no matter what she brings back because they can't support her as leader let me bring in julian hose here from london also you wrote an article that said keep calm and carry on negotiating is that still the case right now. i don't think we consider still the case any longer because of the fact that the e.u. has itself said that it is no longer negotiating you have even though you have sebastian could saying that they're going to work together to prevent an earlier brags it's all that means is they're going to the ear is going to try to help through his main get this deal through. they are has already said that he's not going so france is not interesting negotiating this is not into negotiating this d. most study you'll be able to offer to reason that this point is a few clarification's a few notes and maybe even as was said yesterday in the possibility of trip continuing the trade negotiations even if the backstop comes into effect tom brooks and e

s those backbench tory m.p.'s and one hundred twenty two committee an hour before it began and she basically please it with them saying please support me and by the way i promise that i will not stand as tory party leader for the next general election but if you say you never would run and they do not that's a given twenty twenty two but of course there are concerns still from those budgeteers that what happens if they suddenly if he says he calls an election before then who she still stands so there were some was satisfied and money was still not satisfied let's take a listen to what political companies are saying about the chances tonight of eight theresa may survival cyclists. benchmarks are pretty confident the tories may going to win the vote tonight's may lose tonight speculation who's going to replace. the leadership contest where they could be maybe up to ten runners a lot of money going on boris the last couple of days he's been the big moving one two days ago he surprises all of these are just forty one

break vote for the british prime minister has taken place in westminster three hundred seventeen tory m.p.'s have cast their ballots in a secret to vote and the result allows theresa may to breathe out a sigh of relief at least for the moment two hundred votes in her favor and one hundred seventeen against the british prime minister so she leaves this won't vote with a majority of eighty three she was expected to be able to win if she gains one hundred fifty nine so with the results that we have seen on ravel on wednesday two thirds of her party does in fact still support the prime minister despite all the political turmoil that has been unraveling in the over some analysts have been saying that despite being able to keep the confidence of her own party that does not seem to be the case within the house of commons where of course. heart breaks the tears remain remain ors remain and those people are not being expected to shift their opinions any time soon and of course we have to keep in mind that theresa may has been having an extremely hard time trying to convince them to get back to the

cease the table and the argument is beginning to have more cut through it later and he's and also tory m.p.'s can you foresee a situation in the end where where where they where the business you something that they say is true to the idea of brics it's in the referendum results because that's supposed to be democratic but they simply can't eventually make it work and almost have to admit defeat and either abandon the entire project or just say you know what we're going to shelve it for a bit and so we can figure out something else to do well i mean what series amaze try steve two years is just that she has her red lines which are her red lines they were mandated by anyone in the referendum she decided that breaks a man leaving the customs union having hour and trade deals and the three mean to people and this is the deal that comes from the us but this deal that deal is not acceptable because of the irish backstop so really that's the only breakfast on the table unless we go through the noise option so it might well be that we have to have a referendum on may steel versus maybe exit just a

removing the government then they would take it and the important thing is now hundred seventeen tory m.p.'s have signalled that their willingness to remove threes and may is it possible that there are a handful of them which would be enough to actually vote with the opposition and force the government out of office so that's the key but one one point that the other panelists have mentioned which i know sure is correct actually which is the idea of causing it the lure is that he can extend the article fifty process with the unanimous agreement of the e.u. or you can revoke it all together but the idea of pausing it's like cutting the top and then the restarts at a later date is not really in keeping with the judgment as far as i understand it of the european court of justice if you're a very cape you'll have to be done by knots parliaments by certainly the will of parliament and that would have to be settled where it wouldn't be a kind of delaying tactic it would be we are going to remain in the e.u. so you might not be a panacea it might not be an option for just do we have more time to

quite sure of the result everybody hears says that she is going to survive because there were enough tory m.p.'s who publicly said they would support for either is who have been watching the political scene here for longer say they are notoriously at duplicity just because they would just say something out front and then they would do something else in the back so we don't really quite new then the expectations are that she's going to win it relatively comfortably some commentators say if it's below one hundred she's in trouble people who are against her. she will be fine if it's far more than one hundred one hundred thirty hundred forty again so she is in dire straits so yes there is a certain amount of tension here in the might live to see another day as prime minister atal well she does not believe right yeah like you say it's a secret ballot and there are plenty of examples in british history where the secret ballot you know told us one thing before the election and the results were something completely different to resume a she addressed her fellow tories today before the voting took pla

third of the tory party in parliament voting against her will she be able to carry on under those circumstances that really is the big question tonight don't forget it's a secret ballot so m.p.'s may be saying to treason make. it to her face or to camera saying we're going to rally around the prime minister. a lot of ambitious politicians in the tory party as there is little labor who be looking after for the for the top job if you like wanting the top job and they may well more support for theresa may today on the b.b.c. or whatever. public but in private and secret ballot they could vote against him indeed it's vicious mate she's going to give everything she's got she said it yourself earlier this morning do you think i mean many are assuming that this is the way to the end for her but do you think she's going to pull it off do you think she's going to get the needed majority tonight and stay in power personally well i know five theresa may are a oppose her part most of her politics are opposed however you've got to make she's resilient political a bit because of the many times before you have to go after twenty seven general ten twenty seventeen general election was writ

much indeed for joining us it's another tough day for theresa may she survived that confidence vote tory m.p.'s conservative m.p.'s from her own party but she may yet face another confidence vote from the labor party and from opposition leaders not the moment they are keeping their powder dry they're not willing to play their hand they don't believe that they've got the numbers yet to actually make that confidence vote and win it but it's it's extraordinary tense times. here in the u.k. politics isn't it just paul brennan thank you for that thanks to your guest as well there in westminster we go into brussels now to talk to dominic cain about the european perspective and. paul made the point there that there's so little available to mrs may when she comes to europe isn't it because europe seems to be standing very firm in saying we will not renegotiate do you think there is some wiggle room here. it depends what sort of wriggle room she's looking for and what they're prepared to give really come out of the fact is that they have reiterated many times that there will not be a substantial rene

drama has triggered a challenge to series amazed leadership of a governing conservative party now tory m.p.'s will vote in the coming hours specifically at eighteen hours g.m.t. six pm local time prime minister may responding with defiance saying she'll face the vote of confidence with everything she has she insists the challenge for more than forty eight of her own m.p.'s risks derailing the brics it process. a change of leadership in the conservative party now will put our country's future at risk.

they're busy pointing out that if one hundred seventeen can seventy's that's almost forty percent of tory m.p.'s here in the parliament have no confidence in their leader if he's effectively impossible it's a reason may whenever it happens to come back to parliament and get her deal through it means effectively that she has to get at least one hundred seventeen and probably more opposition m.p.'s to support and they are in absolutely no mood to do that at all because what they want is an entirely different deal that keeps the u.k. in a much closer and stronger long term relationship with the european union and so in the coming days i think tomorrow thursday and friday two things are going to happen first of all trees and they will head to brussels for the european council meeting where she'll have to say to the e.u. twenty seven look you need to give me something at least some sort of assurance that the u.k. won't be stuck in a long term economic relationship with the e.u. that's to assuage the hardliners in her own party and yet at the same time there's going to be a growing body of oppositi

there are two if there are more than two candidates to replace her secret ballots will be held among tory m.p.'s until there are just two left they will then face a postal ballot of all conservative party members and whoever wins becomes the next prime minister that person then has the tough job of uniting m.p.'s behind a break that deal which must go before the u.k. parliament by january twenty first next year and joins us now from london so long as the people there triggered this vote party what exactly are they trying to accomplish here what's what's their agenda. well they're very very much in favor of a cut in size entirely with the european union and the not a majority by any means in the conservative policy they're seen as a bit of a puritanical rump but they're the people certainly who have who forced this in the first place right now to resume a speaking to what's called a nine hundred twenty two committee which is effectively grouping of rank and file can serve in peace on the whose opinions her have her future council one assumes that she'll be saying to them effectively what she s

needs fifty percent plus one vote so one hundred fifty nine votes of the three hundred seventeen tory m.p.'s that are in parliament and so obviously if she wins she stays she continues on with her bracks it's if she loses she has to go there's going to be a leadership contest within the tory party that person is going to be prime minister to resign me will be caretaker prime minister in that period which is roughly expected to be about six weeks if that were to happen and of course all of this is really unraveling this potential further uncertainty is unraveling at a time when things are already extremely chaotic here of course for the last week specifically of us following this of course as you mentioned that vote at the house of commons that was supposed to take place on tuesday getting to spawn because theresa may understood that she would not be able to gather the majority the support that she needs for this deal to go. through the house of commons so she postponed that she went to the european union to try to sort of resuscitate that deal there she didn't get a lot of encouragement w

they're busy pointing out that if one hundred seventeen can seventy's that's almost forty percent of tory m.p.'s here in the parliament have no confidence in their leader eighty's effectively impossible for to resume a whenever it happens to come back to parliament and get her deal through it means effectively that she has to get at least one hundred seventeen and probably more opposition m.p.'s to support and they are in absolutely no mood to do that at all because what they want is an entirely different deal that keeps the u.k. in a much closer and stronger long same relationship with the european union and so in the coming days i think tomorrow thursday and friday two things are going to happen first of all trees and they will head to brussels for the european council meeting which will have to say to the e.u. twenty seven look you need to give me something at least some sort of assurance that the u.k. won't be stuck in a long term economic relationship with the e.u. that's to assuage the hardliners in her own party and yet at the same time there's going to be a growing body of opposition

won't take a seriously and there are one hundred seventeen tory m.p.'s it will probably vote against the deal no matter what she brings back because they can't support her as leader let me bring in julia no is here from london also you wrote an article that said keep calm and carry on negotiating is that still the case right now. i don't think we consider still the case any longer because of the fact that the e.u. has itself said that it is no longer negotiating you have even though you have sebastian could saying that they're going to work together to prevent an earlier brags it's all that means is that the ear is going to try to help through his main get this deal through. they are has already said that he's not going so france is not interesting negotiating this is not into negotiating this d.-mo study you'll be able to offer to reason that this point is a few clarifications a few notes and maybe even as was said yesterday the possibility of trip continuing the trade negotiations even if the backstop comes into effect tom brooks and everybody seems t

leadership race if there are more than two candidates to replace a secret ballots will be held among tory m.p.'s until there are just two left they will then face a postal ballot of all conservative party members and whoever wins becomes the next prime minister and that person then has a tough job of uniting m.p.'s behind a bracks a deal which must go before the u.k. parliament by january the twenty first next year. is that lifers outside the houses of parliament as an orange say although it's due to be a secret ballot a lot of m.p.'s have been stating their intentions how's it looking for treason they have well yeah and if you believe what they say on twitter and all these places then probably she's going to win though obviously everybody keeps reminding you that it's a secret ballot since people might not be telling the truth of the much change their minds anyway let's have a word with alex dean from inside the conservative companies a former advisor to the bone for mr cameron because of the commentator you think she's going to make it i think it's very likely the prime minister will win as

in may and you know not the whole thing on the head so you know we might see three four five six tory m.p.'s crossing the aisle as it were on voting down their own government relatable have to say it is for political watchers it's fascinating for the public it's builder and what the europeans make of it i think we're going to find out in a second absolutely paul thanks very much donna cane joins us live now from brussels dominic the e.u. has gone again to the announcement and said there's nothing to renegotiate so when she gets off the plane in brussels it's going to be a pretty short conversation. well on the face of it you'd think so wouldn't you peter but she has several meetings set up one with the tea shop the irish prime minister obviously his interest here is that backstop and also what might happen to his country's economy if the united kingdom crashes out of the european union on march twenty ninth next year with no deal in place this is may also has meeting arranged with the president of the european council of ministers that's donald tusk he's the one who formally sent out the

announcement about an hour a little over an hour ago forty eight letters fifteen percent of sitting tory m.p.'s had written we don't know how many indeed but that was the minimum figure. making it obligatory to hold a confidence vote and very quickly that is going to happen time of course at the moment is of the essence the vote will take place at six pm this evening that sixty empty until eight o'clock with a result expected soon afterwards at about ten o'clock and that is the moment when we will find out when to resume a herself we'll find know whether she is able to stay on course if she wins she's then immune from challenge within a party for twelve months or whether her time is up. a lot of regular sort of talking points in that speech about delivering on the referendum but the point that got me and i think it's fair enough to say is that and you can make this point as well there just isn't much time left a new leader would have to pretty much start from scratch again and twenty ninth of march of next year is really not far away. well i think this is likely to be her big pitch it was ce

honestly i don't think there's anything she could bring back that will persuade the large numbers of tory m.p.'s who are very unhappy about several different elements of the deal that she's come to it's not that there's one element that they're on happy with it's the customs union it's the backstop it's the whole shit bang really so i think she's really got her work cut out what she will try to do is get some kind of guarantees about how the u.k. can withdraw from this backstop arrangement in northern ireland it's been suggested that that could mean parliament having an annual vote on whether we remain in it i still don't think that's going to be enough to satisfy conservative m.p. so yeah it does. she's got a bit of an uphill struggle ahead and as you say the e.u. are in no mood to renegotiate this this deal i'm not aware of anybody who thinks differently to that so why do it why at this moment pull a vote and make this big show of going off to brussels with big promises of a renegotiation or some form of words or whatever that will satisfy parliament when it's pretty clear that's just not g

she has one hundred fifty nine tory m.p.'s to give her that simple majority but also she needs a lot more she wants to have any control over that party in the future difficult though because it's a secret ballot we actually don't know what's m.p.'s will really do when it comes down to it but i think at the moment it does look like she is going to survive and this is all to do with threats of britain's withdrawal from the european union one wonders how. the rest of europe is viewing this this political chaos yes i mean they're not saying anything publicly but they must be shaking their heads in disbelief there is an e.u. summit in brussels tomorrow where leaders will be including to reason may have spokes person has said is that she is going to press again for there to be more changes a so that she can present her deal to british parliament there's particularly a lot of talk about this so-called backstop and that is what those in favor of brics it are concerned about now yesterday two reason may was supposed to vote to push pa

expecting and no one can really know where we going but i can tell you this if one hundred seventeen tory m.p.'s are against enough of those might also vote against the government possibly a no confidence motion against the government and perceived a general election right so that's the next question immediately this is happened attention is going to turn to jeremy colvin the leader of the labor party is under enormous pressure from his own side and from all the nationalist groups the scottish nationalists and the welsh nationalists and and everybody else to call that vote of no confidence in the government's either to have a second referendum or general election as you say or something else do you think this actually puts more pressure on them to do that potentially in the coming days i think it does they could but we were talking about the telegraph earlier when it seems that eighty six m.p.'s are very sick and you seem to be in a strong position with one hundred seventeen thirty seven percent that is really quite close to comfort so gerry coburn is now going to come under a lot of pressure

in the vote to replace her if there are more than two contenders a seeker vote will be held among tory m.p.'s the two remaining contenders will then face a postal ballot of all conservative party members who have a takes charge of the party will become the next prime minister but won't necessarily face a general election scott live now to lawrence leigh in london for more on this and lawrence the people who triggered this vote in her party what is their agenda where do they stand on all this. you know i think i think it's worth thinking about parliaments of the moment almost in terms of groups or tribes which cuts across party lines it doesn't automatically follow clearly that people inside the conservative party will think the same way as the leadership and certainly most of the people who have written these letters have no conscience and sarees and may absolutely hate everything that the european union stands for and they almost regard it as a bit like the soviet union they've they they they say this equation in their absolute hurin tally called breck's it says they want to break every l

m.p.'s in the tory party and asked. most labor m.p.'s would support that and the s.n.p. would support that but whether in the kind of hothouse atmosphere of westminster you could get some kind of deal brokered remains skeptical of that but sadly that seems to be the one logical compromise that come out of all of this short of going to the country holding another referendum and in a phrase george kind of i'm a new year resolution for to be easily. let the scots go their own way to reason thank you very much jobs care of a member and i'll be up to join you by hogmanay will have a wee dram together. and so the celtic tiger might finally were just at the most inopportune moment for the prime minister and the votes are being counted in the lobbies of course she's not without her supporters and the last few days the meal and express have deserted the hard line breaks the tears and rallied to domy banner however how was consistent defender in fleet street has been celebrated columnist peter oborne he cautions alex it is too soon try to political a better day for trees and me is

m.p. in the tory party he's the attorney general he stood up on monday and gave the edited highlights of his advice the government was reluctant to have it all released in full this substance of what he said on monday it was all about the backstop which is this arrangement in terms of which passed the transition period and before a free trade arrangement is struck britain remains in a customs union with special arrangements for northern ireland until such time as a free trade deal is struck that is what has alienated the support of the unionists to prop up the party of northern ireland unionists and has enraged the presses on the right because they say you can't make a trade deal if you're stuck in a customs union following rules that you have no say over so that really that advice has just been released in the last how half hour or so following the contempt of parliament vote forgive me it's interminably complicated anyway three keep paragraphs emerge from this advice the backstop will endure indefinitely until a superseding agreement takes its place the review mechanism in place does not a