British Prime Minister. When borisjohnson and jeremy hunt threw their hats in the ring, they knew that in tray would be bursting with inexorable brexit challenges. But now there is so much more. Escalating problems with iran and china and out of a relationship which is the very cornerstone of British Foreign policy, a spectacularly undiplomatic row with the united states. My guests today Agnes Poirier of french news weekly, american writer, jef mcallister, ned temko of the Christian Science monitor and veteran german correspondent and author thomas kielinger. Welcome to you all and welcome to your red boxes. The race is nearly over. In less than a fortnight, the uk will have a new Prime Minister. So i want you all to imagine that you are that chosen one. And, whetherjeremy hunt or borisjohnson, you have smiled for the camera cameras, plural, on the steps of downing street and you are now sitting down to open the inbox. Youve promised to deliver brexit but you face a new and unknown Leadership Team in brussels and mutiny threats from your own side. So you also have to repair relations with the us and you have to worry about threat levels in the gulf and shadows over the golden era with china. And thats not all. So what do you deal with first . Thomas, as our elder statesman, open your red box and tell me whats at the top of it. Im sorry about the state of the world, but to talk about britain and europe to begin with, that is very difficult nowadays because europe is so much in flux. As churchill said it being a riddle inside an enigma. Britain, at this very moment, of europe needing new leadership and a new profile, is leaving it. I wonder if that is a wise thing to do, when you are living at the very moment when europe might need you more than ever. What has the eu done to yourself that you have put brexit at the head of Everything Else in the world, because in my heart of hearts, i believe brexit is a fallacy. It is a real fallacy because it is not the main threat to British Future existence. It is really a domestic agenda, which i would be far more interested in solving. So in a way, about brexit, i want to come clean about the exit date, the 31st of october. So youre going to come clean on your first day in office . I would say it is unrealistic. The people we want to know is it with are not going to be in place until later in the autumn. It is the new leadership of europe, there is nobody to negotiate with. What is the point of call the most unrealistic deadline, the 31st of october . It is worse than all of the previous deadlines, where you still had european leaders ahead of you. Now you would have nothing. Just to play devils advocate, you could still pick up the phone to berlin or paris on your first day, are you going to do that . No. The american president , i think was it kennedy, when kissinger said, when i want to call europe, which number do i call . It is a fact that britain, berlin and france, it is very uncertain who i call. Therefore, the date, october the ist, is unrealistic. I need to prepare the public for the fact that chasing the brexit phantom was the worst distraction in british modern political history. Well, well come back to your particular problems, assuming your name might be Boris Johnson, in presenting the British Public with this truth, as you put it. Right. Agnes, as other european panellist here, give us your take on whether there is somebody as british Prime Minister that you want to talk to. Thomas says theyre not in job yet, but we do have nominees for those top european posts. If i am the british Prime Minister, i revoke. Congratulations. I have a cup of tea, revoke article 50 and then we can press on with what is at stake that is, you know, as you say, British Society and issues. Lets be practical here. My name is borisjohnson, i am the british pm. And you said do or die, october 31st, which is not consistent with revoking it. He has got a few weeks, i will have a mini renegotiation sometime in early september. I will everybody is exhausted and i am charming and i can put in a few latin words, and so i am arriving and they will give me an exit mechanism to the backstop, i will tweak mays withdrawal agreement, i go back to the parliament and because everybody is exhausted there and conservative mps and labour mps, who are fearing for their seats because of the brexit party and the lib dems, he will pull it off, they will vote for the withdrawal agreement, he will have delivered an orderly, at least, you know, not hard brexit, then he cuts taxes, he increases public spending by borrowing more and after a few months, while real people and experts are actually negotiating with brussels, he calls for a general election. That is his sort of dream plan. But, of course, brussels might not grant him the exit mechanism that they did not grant to. Yes, we have not seen the leaked diplomatic e mails from brussels, so we dont know thats coming and the British Parliament might also not vote on that tweet tweaked, withdrawal agreement. And then british pm johnson will have been british by minister for a few weeks and that is the end of his career. Boy, this is such a sunshine narrative what is yours . Day one, i would demand a recount and give one of these people the job. But failing that, i fear that the scenario that thomas pointed out is whats going to happen, and that is, as in the last couple of years, brexit is going to suck the oxygen out of everything. What i hope would happen, in the unlikely event that i were in number 10 with my inbox, is that i would focus on some of the issues you mention. Not least because things like china, even more urgently the crisis in the gulf, are part of the aspect of brexit no ones talking about. Lets say britain gets out of the eu, what kind of country does britain want to be . Where is its International Identity . Is it still a fundamentally european power . Is it a small, somewhat chaotic island that happens to be a permanent memberof the Security Council . Or does it throw all its eggs in the trump, washington basket . And irans a perfect example. Because on the one hand, britain has a declared interest, still, in retaining this nuclear limitation agreement negotiated under president obama. On the other hand, it only recently, if not at the behest of washington, knowing it was making nice to president trump, impounded and iranian vessel that was en route to syria, and now finds itself very much a military player in the gulf. So. Sending Royal Marines onto that tankerjust off gibraltar. Exactly. These are not theoretical questions. This is about, again, what kind of International Presence britain sees itself as having, if the dream scenario that agnes was talking about happens and they find themselves out of the eu. Can you leave that paperwork on the table for the moment . You can. Jef, can you take up for a minute for is the question, andi know this is telling you what is in your red box, but you are allowed to talk about what you want but i want you to deal with the question of the blue on blue action that we have seen in the past few days. How worried would you be if you were the new Prime Minister, on yourfirst day in office, and you had to do parliamentary arithmetic thinking that youve got a former primer minister threatening to take you to court over any move to suspend parliament. How worried would you be by that kind of parliamentary arithmetic and possible constitutional arithmetic . On your first day in office . The tories have tended to be good at self preservation and pulling together. It is very difficult, i think, for the parliamentary party, even though its something as divided as it now is, not to see the importance of protecting johnson to some degree. But i thinkjohn major will indeed go indeed with the legal challenge. It might succeed. I think insofar as there is an year of good feelings for the first week and a half, while johnson is now trying to make the brexit deal work, all the contradictions, all the difficulties remain. I dont see how you get a brexit deal through europe that will pass the conservative party. I dont see any of these magical things happening. I just dont see it. So we are struck again, soon, with the mess. And then i think it comes back to will parliament assert itself, maybe with some labour voters, to force another referendum . Which is, in some ways, the only constitutional way out of this that makes sense. It was a referendum that got us in it, it has to be a referendum that gets people to think its legitimate to get out. It solves the problem. I do not know if the conservative party can think that anymore when theres a new Prime Minister. The labour party, unfortunately for itself and for the sense of opposition, seems to be involved in a dreadful invalided, self consumption over anti semitism and other problems and investigations, even before the quality human right commission of a Major Political party and exposes on the television. It is a mess. It is just not a credible party for the next government. And so, this givesjohnson, or whoever it is going to be, mr hunt may be, doubtful, a chance to run his conservative party in these battles for awhile but still dont see how he solves this fundamental brexit problem. Thomas, if i could come back to you on the timeline, does the new Prime Minister have control of the deadline of this, on october the 31st, or do the europeans, some of them at least, want the brits out as much as borisjohnson wants to leave . Practically speaking, he doesnt have control, that is a fa ct. We look at the likelihood of ever more negotiations taking place. That is not going to unify the country, obviously. And the problem lies at the heart of brexit itself. It is not the country that spoke to tell the politicians to leave europe, it was 52 . I have a problem. I am conflicted about the notion that the country has spoken, therefore the politicians have to do. 48 need to be conciliated. Theres a deep divide in britain, and therefore continuation of the negotiations might, in the end, mean and the end there will have to be a public vote. I would be all in favour of it. What i am getting at is, what does the rest of europe feel about the desirability of such a public vote, or more, you know, of the kinds of considerations that jefs talking about . Or is there so much impatience in europe know that they would say october the 31st is it . There is impatience but a great deal of sadness, in berlin in particular, which has always sworn by the closeness with britain which was our most important allies in the debate on free trade and anti protectionism and so forth. We would not mind if britain were to consider, reconsider its decision. You know, europe is not going for ever closer union. I wonder how the anti eu rhetoric in this country still hearts own, saying they are going to build a superstate. Its wrong, its a fallacy, its a lie. Everything else points in the opposite direction. Europe is now at exactly the moment when britain always wanted her to be. That is to say, a relationship between independent governments. Intergovernmental relations. Thats the moment that europe is reaching. And so, we kind of thing that britain might be turned into this cauldron of intergovernmental relations and forget about this. One great irony of this, and it is reflected in the fact that if you thousand disproportionately elderly local members of the conservative party are determining whos going to be the next Prime Minister of this country, not a national election. The main consideration, i mean, or as is many things, he is not stupid. This locking oneself into the halloween deadline, saying if theres no deal theres no deal, is not about europe, its not even about britain, its about nigel farage. Its an internal conservative, brexit party. It is also an english problem, rather than a british problem. Borisjohnson, to go back to what youre asking, imean, president micron six months ago had sort of coalesced four orfive eu members to say, ok, no more extension, we have had enough. But six months later, almost a year later, at the end of october, i think there will be many more eu Members Around him saying, look, let them exit, discover whether they like it or not, and then they can rejoin. Let us leave all of your brexit paperwork on the table for a moment and return to something, you cannot wait until the october 31 to appoint your next ambassador to washington. How are you going to satisfy a bruised Diplomatic Service and a bruised ego of the us president . I think he does not have to worry about Donald Trumps ego, which is infinitely bruisable, ever again. I want to read a quotation from mr johnson when he was londons mayor. He said that trumps stupefying ignorance prove that he was out of his mind and frankly unfit to hold the office of president of the united states, which is much worse than anything that sir kim said his diplomatic cables. But trump likes boris. He sees a kindred spirit, a big, fellow, semi liar, a bounder, a chancer, and has been promoting him in british politics for years. He is predisposed to like him. If you believe in the virtues of the british system and Diplomatic Service, it would be smart to appoint a career person of stature. Iam not. He has made them all worried. If you have people that do not think youre going to look after them in the long run, they are not going to look after you. But that the spirit of the age and johnson himself is that kind of person, who throws rocks and worries about breaking glass later. So maybe it is a politicalfigure. A conservative person who is of some stature that cuts the divide in half. The bigger problem is us, uk relations. What is the uks role . What is it doing . That has been a problem since the war. The decision britain has made is to hitch itself, basically, to the us. There has been ups and downs, the suez canal, wilson sending troops to vietnam, but basically the idea is that the us is important for britain is the choice. Now, and it has sometimes paid off, but if you have somebody who does not believe in nato, who does not believe institutions, free trade, in the white house, what do you get out of it . Mrs may could not have been nicer to him. She was constantly abasing himself, herself to make sure that he did not get mad at her, and he run roughshod over her. Differences in global warming, the piece process, they are substantive. Boris johnson cannot make them disappear just by appointing somebody to washington who is. To come back to the red box problem. This is, again, crucial to defining britains post brexit role. Because, one of the multiplier effects in the so called special relationship was that even in tough times, britain was a kind of bridge for the native states with a European Union or a wider european continent. And that is easily under threat now. And so, if the decision in my first day in office is to kind of pivot towards the united states, the kind of thingsjeff was saying are a problem. It is not whether you like or dislike trump, it is. Or whether you like kim direct or not, it is inarguably true that what sir kim said, that this is a dysfunctional administration, is impossible to disagree with. So, if you are hitching your wagon to this particular horse, you have got to know what the hors is doing. My final small example, huawei. You have, on the one hand, the americans, and trump in particular, saying they will never share intelligence with you again, that huawei cannot be part of any 5g network. But then he is loosening this idea and maybe that American Companies can deal deal with huawei. If you have basically said, if you are britain, anything trump says we will do or at least make nice towards, what happens when you are dealing with a president who changes his mind . Why dont you answer that question . So, why do you not play it a la trump . The brazilian president appointed his son as us ambassador. Ok, is there someone in the Johnson Family . Or the hunt family . But deal with the substantive issue, are you going to offend china by saying, and this decision, of course, on huawei has been postponed for some time precisely because of the arrival of a new Prime Minister, are you going to offend the chinese by saying, effectively, golden era over, you are a security problem, huawei cannot be in the 5g network, or will you bow to america . Britain has put itself at such a vulnerable position because for the last 50 years, the two pillars were close relationship with the us and membership of the eu. This is just vanishing in front of our eyes. Basically, china, i mean, have you listened to china towards britain, china is being quite harsh, and it can be, because britain is in a desperate situation, wanting to strike future trade deals with everyone. Get your colonial, interfering hands of hong kong. Britain cannot be harsh with anyone, can just say yes please and it is actually terrible to see if you are a friend of britain. And you have to make decisions, whether you want to kick them into the long grass. For example, iran is another issue where you have to make up your mind whether you will follow the leadership and say we are pro gating the nuclear deal with iran, and that is an issue we have to solve here and knife you cannot wait for the next president of the united states. I suppose, there may be decisions that are more pressing. You have just sent a second naval vessel to the gulf. You have got the possible interference with British Commercial shipping. What if something pops up there . You have to contain the Iranian Revolutionary guards, you cannot let them ride roughshod over Free Shipping and so forth, lam all in favour of stamping and putting your foot down and saying enough is enough, but the ultimate issue is what is the uks role in the world and you cannot define it right now you can hope for the end of the Trump Presidency and for some other constellation of factors the world that will be more benign to your own feelings and designs, but, at the moment, i do not think we are getting anywhere by wanting to define the uk role . The american man, addison, once said britain has not found a world role after the end of her empire. Who was it . Britain is exactly the same now. To press you back on your mystery, riddle enigma. Can you not pivot out as british Prime Minister and say, what are you doing coherently about iran . We have to find. Actually, what you said is exact at the point, i think britain has to re involve herself with the eu. You cannot deal individually as an isolated nation with all the problems that we are now talking about. You have to have larger families of nations coming together. The iranians nuclear deal painstakingly achieved by obama and iran over a lot of time and getting used to each other is, actually, an intelligent piece of diplomacy. The only reason that trump seems to be determined to destroy it is because it was obamas signal Foreign Policy accomplishment. So, the idea that we are going to pretend and go along with america because there are a defence partner as america deliberately ratchets up the pressure to make the iranians more and more unstable and maybe hit out, the idea is you should turn down the pressure, not to turn it up. But trumps policy is either because john bolton likes it or because he likes being a strongman, he probably does not want a war. There was, until the most recent case, some move within europe, of which britain was a part, to say to the americans, with some hope, that, look, we agree with you about iran, there should. This was not a perfect deal, there should be constraints on missile technology, on behaviour in the middle east, but lets find a way to negotiate. Leave this deal intact and we will do another side to deal with the french, germans and brits. And that is coming back to the notion, are we at a turning point where however brexit is accomplished, britains role has to be redefined . So, we have only got a couple of minutes left on the programme. We have, i hope, nearly got to the bottom of the pressing red box. Do you all, at this stage, feel, bring it on, or do you feel, as the new Prime Minister to the uk on that day, show me my quilt i want to crawl back under it . Am i borisjohnson or. . You are Boris Johnson orjeremy hunt. I am just having a cup of tea and close the door. Keeping calm and carry on . Probably. Facetiously, i am going on holiday for if i was a serious Prime Minister, i would. Do you relish the challenge of that fire hose of crises upon you . No. If i am boris, i pretend to relish the challenge but even the best Case Scenario for a no deal brexit is not very rosy. So, october the 31st is fast upon you, thomas, are you confident of getting it done . Not at all. That is why i moved to something quite different, i would pick up the speech that theresa may gave when she became Prime Minister outside the doors of numberten, a wonderful speech about how problematic this country is to govern, the injustices that need to be addressed and the people who can hardly manage, i would go back to that speech and say, folks, this country is in a mess and before we talk about brexit, that has to be pushed only ladder of priority. We deal with our domestic agenda first and foremost. Numberone, numbertwo, number three issues. And you have got one sense, it is only in your speech, jeff, sorry help thats it for dateline london for this week. Were back next week at the same time. Goodbye. Hello. The first half of the weekend has been mainly dry and fine for most. For others, a few hefty showers, particularly across the eastern side of scotland, into the pennines, through the midlands, east anglia and south east england. This building area of High Pressure through the early hours of sunday morning will tend to ease away most of the showers but we could keep one or two going first on sunday across east anglia and south east england. A lot of cloud around to start the day. It will thin and break. Well all see some spells of sunshine, particularly across northern ireland, a fine day here. Still the chance of one or two showers across the Higher Ground of scotland, Northern England and wales. Maybe one or two across south west england, but most will have a mainly dry day, fairly light winds as well, except for eastern coasts. Brisker breeze here, a bit more in the way of cloud at times, just keeping temperatures pegged back to around 17 or 18 celsius. Further west, in the best of the sunshine, 21 24 celsius. Some fine conditions for the cricket World Cup Final at lords. A lot of cloud around through the morning, but it will thin and break and by the afternoon some spells of sunshine, lighter gentle north easterly breeze, highs of 2 celsius. Similar conditions at wimbledon as well. So its a fine evening for most. Late spells of sunshine. As the night wears on, more cloud feeding into northern scotland, eastern parts of scotland and england. Could be low enough that cloud to bring some patchy drizzle but for most it is a dry night. Slightly cooler night as well, lows of between 8 and 13 celsius. Its a quiet start to the new week. Weve still got our area of High Pressure so its mainly dry. Some cloud around through the morning, will thin and break, much more sunshine by the afternoon, fewer showers as well, if any. As fewer showers as well, if any. You going to tuesda holding as you going to tuesday, we are holding onto our area of High Pressure, this system, starting to make inroads, that is likely to produce some showers on tuesday across northern ireland, western scotland, some of those becoming heavy as the day wears on. Working their way further north and east. For much of intimate wales, it is dry again, spells of warm sunshine, ready for, 25 celsius, memory 26. May be 26. England and wales, holding onto this area of High Pressure, our frontal system continuing to push its way eastwards, introducing mcleod, shari up eastwards, introducing mcleod, shari upxof eastwards, introducing mcleod, shari up x of rain and eventually by thursday it will turn one settled, goodbye. Welcome to bbc news, im reged ahmad. Our top stories a Tropical Storm is battering the us state of louisiana, with officials warning of potentially life threatening floods. Manhattan experiences widespread power cuts, subway trains are halted and people are trapped in lifts. Hello and welcome to bbc news. The southern us state of louisiana is being battered by a powerful Tropical Storm, bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 112 kilometres per hour. But storm barry has lost some of its strength since coming ashore