Now on bbc news, brexitcast. Last week you had a giant flask of coffee . Tea 7 yes. That is what i will say it was. And a punnet of raspberries. And now im the raspberry greetings from brussels. I am gazing adoringly at you. Thank you. I am the raspberry. Welcome to brexitcast. Brexitcast from the bbc. No one has got a clue what brexit is. Brexit is. No one has quite understood the full extent of this. We rely on the dover and calais crossing. I met borisjohnson once. The doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters, they are going to get it wrong again. Remainers and leavers, that will end well. Brussels, i would describe as a dogs brexit. We have still not got any raspberries, but it is chris at westminster. Youve got a banana, as well as me. Laura at westminster. Adam in brussels. And doctor ardler in brussels. I like to say doctor when im wearing shoulder pads it has been another big week. Really. I feel cross eyed. My binder has got much thicker. And are we poised to get a new brexit deal . Laura, what does it look like . Brussels asked for concrete proposals, viable, legally operational, and what did the Prime Minister come up with . A draft new protocol on ireland, Northern Ireland, with helpful, explanatory notes and a legal text that no one has seen fully yet. Broadly speaking, everybody ready . Broadly speaking, the solution to replace the backstop, which was the thing in the last deal that fell in the commons to guarantee against a hard border coming back is. Northern ireland for goods, cows, agriculture, stuff that is made in Northern Ireland, stays in the Single Market following eu rules, but Northern Ireland gets a vote on that every four years. It kind of gives people in Northern Ireland a veto. They might get a veto even before it comes in because the Northern IrelandAssembly Might have to approve it during the transition period. If this ever happened, it is due to start at the end of the transition period, the start of 2021. It is not immediate. If this was to fly, it would have to happen in a months time. Exactly. The second bit, which is more troubling in terms of politics, is the whole uk leaves the Customs Union and that means, of course, there would have to be some form of customs checks on the island of ireland, and an increase in checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland going that way, but not the other way. That is where it all gets very thorny. Tradition suggests, if two countries are not in a Customs Union, you have to have customs checks and convention says that is a border and this whole project about the backstop is trying to find a solution to that. Customs has always been the conundrum. The governments position is that in the draft protocol basically this can all be done through technology and stuff that has to be physically checked can happen in a factory or at the end of the supply chain, rather than actually being at a border. In fact, there is a commitment to say they would never, ever have checks on the border. But you guys in brussels have been hearing how that has gone down. Katya, you went to see Guy Verhofstadt, the brexit coordinator. The greatest Centre Parting on the continent, i think. Hes taken to wearing a cardigan now. Moving on. He has a greatjob. What did he have to say . He is known as quite excitable and what is interesting is that Angela Merkel has been quite quiet about this. Emmanuel macron has been quiet about this. The irish taoiseach and the deputy Prime Minister of ireland have been more vocal, as you would expect. We will go into the reservations and why they are not shouting it from the rooftops necessarily. Remind us why this guy matters in this whole process. The European Parliament matters because, like our parliament, it has a veto over any new brexit deal. So the European Parliament has to be on board. If they dont like it, they can say no, and it does not matter if the negotiators in the eu and uk say they are happy with it. The parliament has to be happy as well. Guy verhofstadt is a very key figure when it comes to brexit in the European Parliament. I asked him question after question and in the end he wanted me out of his office. That is outrageous no way. I said one more thing. Lets have a listen. It was your last question i promise i will go. You are worse than a politician. Iam learning. I promise you can literally kick me out. Do you think borisjohnson is not serious about making a deal with brussels . Is this a cynical proposal . That is a good question because we have serious doubts about the seriousness of these proposals because today a memo was leaked, signed by downing street to tory mps, to immediately blame the european union. If such a document has really been sent to the tory mps, we can have doubts about the seriousness of these proposals. I love that. Before we talk about what you think he meant, can i ask when you are doing an interview with a politician, what happens when you are saying that you are being a bit stretchy with the time, a press person stands in your eye line going like that. Wind up, wind up, wind up. Did he have anyone with him . He just tried to walk me out of the room he would not let me sit down. It was a planned interview. He wouldnt let me sit down. He kept trying to walk away. He could have called security. I was bolshie at first. In the end as you heard i was going, please, please, just one more thing. I promise, i promise. He is an ultra and he even appeared at the lib dem conference, so he has bought into trying stop this happening from a political point of view. But how representative do you think someone like that really is of the eu overall . It has to pass through the parliament, any deal. The interesting thing about Guy Verhofstadt and his gang, the brexit steering group, bsg, not battlestar galactica, bsg, they are made up of some very gobby people, like philippe lomberts, the green mep, who will come out and trash the government quite often. But in official terms they have been quite relaxed. They are really on top of the Citizens Rights thing, they pushed that, but when it comes to the deal they have been supportive and not that troublesome in a political sense. Thats why it is important to say that the written statement they put out was really, really grim for the uk because normally they try to be helpful. Also, they do liaise with Barniers Team in the european commission, so this statement will not have come out without the knowledge of the other bits of the eu. I think we are in a very, very big political dance on both sides and it is not always elegant. I think both sides have got their good cops and their bad cops. For example, Boris Johnson made a good impression in the eu with his covering letter that came with a proposal to Jean Claude Juncker yesterday. A big bit of progress. It was received well. There are elements in his proposals that have been praised by the eu leaders, but more than one of the diplomats said, steve barclay, that is the man we want to hearfrom because he is known as the tough guy, the brexit secretary. It is almost as if borisjohnson charms leaders in berlin and in paris and at the g7 with his letters, and Stephen Barclay comes in and start threatening countries like spain. That is interesting because here, Stephen Barclay, and lets all remember he was man enough to come on brexitcast and do a hard quiz, so thanks for that and lets invite him again, but from a political point of view i will be less flattering, this is a number 10 move with david frost, the eu negotiator on behalf of Boris Johnson, and Stephen Barclay is part of the team, but this is a number 10 push from them. Big picture, the view here is that the eu seem to have said things that are quite nice about the rules, the idea of Northern Ireland staying in the Single Market for goods and accepting eu rules, they see that as a big concession. The other thing that is fascinating is they know customs is the tricky bit, but i have been told by some very well placed people that they had very strong signals from eu capitals that they were prepared to contemplate these kind of proposals. When you hear the foreign minister in ireland say today, if this is the final proposal, there will be no deal, very tough talk, but this is may be the basis of something. Maybe the basis of discussion. But whether it can be done in ten days. He said final proposal, that was a very carefully worded thing. It was. Just like when the Prime Minister said it would be take it or leave it and it is not turning out to be that at all. One thing to say on regulations front. Sorry, one important thing. Although the eu does feel the Prime Minister is very coming towards their concerns when it comes to regulations, the fact that stormont will have a vote on those, there would be a time limit on it and maybe not even start at all as adam pointed out, it means that there are many in the eu who see it as giving with one hand and taking away with the other. That is why there are questions about when the Prime Minister says this is our big compromise, what will you give me, eu . Many in the eu say it is not a compromise if there are so many caveats that it may not happen. What you have in this delicate political dance is both sides wanting a deal. The eu does believe the Prime Minister wants one, but it wonders will he make other, new more compromises necessary . If he is leading up to a general election will he feel he will lose votes . Will they make more compromises when it risks exposing the Single Market, possibly the Northern Ireland peace agreement, and seeming to abandon the member state of ireland. It is also delicate. Dino, the producer sitting behind you, laura. What do call we that . The cupboard. He said, before we move on to tory conference, can you do some admin . Number one, we are doing a new playlist on bbc sounds. Thats good. Not that we werent out of our depth last time. Will you do some crooning . We dont do the singing, we introduce the songs, but our brexitcasters give us a list of songs. Go on to the e mail. Two, today is National Poetry day. Congratulations, everyone. We do have some brexit poems coming, so stay tuned for that. We have a special guest who is going to be the reader of our poetry as well. Guy verhofstadt. In his cardigan . You saw the reception that katya got. Three, people stop me on the street about this, why are you wearing headphones . Please explain. The main reason is so that we can hear each other. I think people are getting at is, surely there are things that are more discreet than these giant things. I like these headphones. They are very comfortable, heading into winter they double as earmuffs. They are the only ones we could afford. It is because it is a podcast. And also because we are subtle. Very subtle. We have matching subtle microphones and headgear. It is more understated than it has been of late. Did you see my segue . The commons. Boris johnson had to go and answer questions today about his new plans and given that this time last week we spent a long time talking about how frustrated and angry and upset and really traumatised the house of commons felt. Today was much more conciliatory. The Prime Minister was trying to play nice and take concerns seriously and anyone might imagine he might need some votes soon the tone was different and he was trying to show that these were serious proposals. So cynical, at such a young age sceptical, never cynical. Always sceptical. What has shifted it . Number one, they need votes. I know also some cabinet ministers have said, look, you might not want to go as hardcore on the old rhetoric as you did. Even in his conference speech, and we will talk about that later, there was less of the very pointed, very anti parliament talk. Now, there is no way he will move back from his broad argument, of kind of, i am the one to end the horror show, and everyone else is trying to prolong the agony which he campaigned for, to start with. But i think now there is something on the table to talk about, we are in a different phase . If last week was the screaming wall of noise, which it was, wasnt it, here. This week, both the speech in manchester and the performance today, it felt warm, almost, or at least a willingness to listen. He still had a pop atjohn bercow, who has now almost lost his voice. He got Conference Cold without even attending a conference. Strained colleagues, i am very grateful to the large number of people who could have come up to the chair expressing concern about my throat. Their generosity of spirit and humanity is much appreciated. It is much appreciated but i want to confirm to the house that the state of my throat, which is purely temporary, is not down to the consumption of a kangaroos testicle. Laughter i wouldnt eat it. It would probably be poisoned. He sounds like he has got a 120 a day habit. When you said the Prime Minister was not hard on parliament during his speech at the tory conference. That was one bit that was not necessary. But he was cracking jokes about parliament being sort of trapped, like im a celebrity. |m a jungle . Im a celebrity get me out of here. He was poking fun. The classic old style borisjohnson warm way. He was making a political point. Rather than the stuff we saw last week. There is one thing that is important to say, the eu say it is troublesome, but it is clear to me that there is a much better chance of there being a majority for this deal in parliament than there was for the previous one. But this is still such a bumpy, bumpy period and as it happens during the conference, we sat down and had a chat with borisjohnson. And i asked him, given everything that has happened, breaking the law, chucking people out of the party, all sorts of awful things and this is what he said. In the last few weeks you have lost major votes in the commons, chucked some mps out of your own party, the highest court in the land has found you broke the law and gave the wrong advice to the queen, how do you think things are going . About as well as can be expected. If not slightly better. Really . This was always going to be a very difficult time. Better than expected . I thought, what does bad look like . In the dark moments of the soul it must be quite something. On the discussion in the commons this afternoon and i know westminster types have a danger of starting to talk about numbers and wrapping presents before you have bought them, as it were, because obviously the conversation in brussels matters, matters, matters. But my favourite quote from steve baker from the erg, asked what he made of the plan, he said it was tolerable. For mr baker, given his opposition to theresa mays deals and how he sees himself as the guardian of what he sees as brexit, tolerable is much doing the conga down whitehall in terms of an endorsement. Just thinking of baker doing the conga followed by Mark Francois and john redwood. Perhaps morris dancing . How solid is this potential new majority . Because if this proposal for borisjohnson is a starting point towards a potential deal, surely all these people who are doing the conga today might stand to be a bit disappointed . You do not have to go far from tolerable for it to be intolerable. Of course. It will partly be about the psychology, maybe labour mps will vote for it if they think its going to win, if they think its real, but we might be in a situation today and if youre listening on the podcast, it is thursday. It is some date at the beginning of october, there might be a deal that tentatively is likely to get through parliament, but actually cannot get agreed with the eu, whereas previously there was a deal agreed by the eu, but could not get through parliament. Katya, on that, you have talked about this before, do the warmish noises that we are hearing from the commons help shape the reaction in brussels given that youve said before, brussels might be up for one la st heave at some time but only if it could be certain of clearing the commons. Yes. That is one of the big questions. David frost, the Prime Ministers main eu envoy is in brussels tonight and tomorrow to answer the massive list of questions the Eu Commission have for him but all of that aside and the warm noises and the suggestion they may be a majority in parliament for Boris Johnsons deal, the proposals on the table are not acceptable to the eu full stop. Lets just be honest about it. The chances of getting a deal now between now and the eu Leaders Summit is zero, lets be honest. The only possibility would be if the Prime Minister turned around and said, you know that Northern Irish backstop, actually i will take take it, that is fine. Otherwise we really are dancing around in circles. There still is some scintilla of hope that it is possible and get your diaries out, there is a skeleton of a timetable for getting it done, meaningful vote four, well, actually, meaningful vote one, is pencilled in according to some people for saturday the 19th of october, so forget your weekend plans. Really . If, if, if, if, if. But it is interesting that we say about the Northern Ireland backstop, so in number 10, they think that is what the eu might say. They think that is what the eu might say, thanks very much, you can have the Northern Irish backstop, they will not agree to that. As things stand, they will not agree to that and they are up for talking about the details they put forward, absolutely. On the two big principles which they say are customs and consent, brexit is so full of snappy phrases, customs and consent, as far as far as they are concerned, they have gone quite far on the eu rules bit, they are not going to move on the others. It is no deal and they are willing to do that whether it is no deal or if by some hook or crook at the end of october, or whether it is no deal perhaps after that. I think the best little nugget of video over the last week, which if you have seen before, you will love to see again, and if you have not seen it, you will love. It is about your corridors in manchester, because the Prime Minister is walking down a corridor en route from one interview to the next. I know what this is now. He was in need of refreshment. Thank you. Whats this . 0h disposable cups. No disposable cups. The wonderful thing about that is that there is a full stop between each word. No disposable cups. I tell you what, she is a highly experienced at downing street operative. It was whisked so smoothly away. It was suggested to me that Boris Johnson is still secretly scared of michael gove because it was he who banned everything and dictated to the cabinet that they all had to go in with the proper coffee cups, no more disposable cups. No disposable cups. It is beyond the thick of it, if that had been written as a bit of a script, you would think it was a bit too cliched for that. 0h. Do you remember what day it is today . Thursday, but not for poems. It is National Poetry day and we did a punt earlier on to brexitcasters to write some poetry and people got their scrolls out and sat in meadows and people looked into the distance and then we thought. We have recruited a poet in residence. And here he comes. John pienaar jp, hello, hello. The best voice in broadcasting. I like what youve done with the place . Do you like it . John, what have brexitcast listeners come up with . I have been given this run of poems and i will go through one or two of them and tell me when to stop. Shall i do them as me, or Brian Blessed . The first one is that you and then the second one Brian Blessed, and the third one is Guy Verhofstadt. Heres the first one and thanks to pete for this. Oh, very good marvellous. Well done. This is from jake yap. That is good i like, i like. You need to know a lot of stuff to understand that. That is very nice, but very funny. We are like the Little Corner of the party who would understand that. Thanks to Ann Carruthers for this. That is classy. Theresa may i rolled borisjohnson. And the final one. Here goes. Thank you. While youre here, we have to ask, what is your prediction of what will happen . No idea shall i go on . That is a long time in broadcasting. Cheers, john. Good to see you guys. Goodbye. Should we create a poem now . Like a poetry slam . I think that is a terrible idea. You have no thrill for risk. See you next week. Bye, everybody. After a thoroughly wet night across many parts of the uk, there could be a lot of surface water on roads this morning. Greatest concerns were central and southern scotland, northern and eastern england. With the ground saturated, the flooding issue could be a little bit worse. Be prepared for some travel disruption. This is the culprit weather front which has been pushing eastwards overnight. Ahead of it, some stronger winds developing in its wake, but a lot more dry, clearer weather to the south and west later on. Away from that, a bright day for shetland but windy, and towards Northern Ireland, wales, south west and western scotland, much more brightness, much more sunshine around compared to what we have seen today. The most persistent rain down towards east anglia. Dont be filled by some brighter skies in the south east corner, we could see some rain return later. Rain always there in these eastern parts. North west wales, towards the midlands, but Northern Ireland, parts of wales and the south west goods a dry and sunny throughout. And with the north east corner, but the sunny areas will a lwa ys corner, but the sunny areas will always tend to be the windiest. It is similarto always tend to be the windiest. It is similar to those on saturday. Now as we go into sunday evening and overnight, the rain starts to fizzle out. Then a lot of cloud around it is in western fog as winds come through, but by the end of the night, more rain returns to the rest of the uk. Temperatures after an initial dip will cool, there could bea initial dip will cool, there could be a little bit of morning brightness. Here is the culprit for yet more rain on monday, this area of low pressure south of iceland throwing in these weather fronts, they will be most potent first in they will be most potent first in the day. A windy rush hour, winds touching gale force anywhere throughout the day. That rain fragments as it pushes eastwards, but given the ground saturated in areas it is going to be one to watch as far as areas it is going to be one to watch as faras minor areas it is going to be one to watch as far as minor is concerned. Missing today on a brighter note in the west but it will feel cooler. But call the team will continue to this coming week, and with the jet strea m this coming week, and with the jet stream in this rough position, meandering across the atlantic, fairly vigorous at times, you need to dip we will see an area of low Pressure Development that will spin its way across the uk. So just about wherever you are, you cities there for you, never be too far away from your waterproofs, there will be some wet and windy at times. Bye for now. This is bbc news im reged ahmad. Our top stories. More protests in hong kong as demonstrators defy a ban on face masks. 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