The jingle . It is magnificent, darling. Laughter i didnt edit it. What do you think of the brexitcastjingle . Yeah, a good summary of where we are so yeah, a good summary of where we are so far . And who said brexit is a dogs breakfast . Was it Yanis Varoufakis . That was a niche question, wasnt it . Lets focus on the big picture, where are we on the seemingly never ending Brexit Process . Seemingly never ending Brexit Process . It is the Christmas Party at downing street, and for journalist and officials this evening, and their Christmas Party because, after all the nxt of the la st because, after all the nxt of the last few months, after the frustrations, their difficulties, all of the wrangles at a cost for theresa may, last week at the end of the week she got her piece of paper, she was able to come home and say yes, phase one is over. Now, does that solve the contradictions we have discussed on the programme . Does it mean the problems have gone away . Does it mean anything other than for numberten away . Does it mean anything other than for number ten thank goodness they got to this stage . Not really. That in and of itself given the divisions in the tory party, the divisions in the tory party, the divisions in the types of approach between the uk and eu that is an achievement for a Prime Minister who lost her majority down the back of a sofa not long ago. And she has been applauded. Yeah. And i have to say that in the eu there is a real sight of relief, actually, and it is not that it of relief, actually, and it is not thatitis of relief, actually, and it is not that it is one of those occasions where it is an eu summit e is a waltz out the door and they ally, did you see what. And she walks out the door and they are like, did you see what she did. I will do that many times over the next few months. They didnt do it this time. They were like, oh my god, you know, they took about someone who has a couple of cahoonas and they think she has found a way out of a tough situation. They were so taken aback by the dup phone call she received while in brusselsjust a few by the dup phone call she received while in brussels just a few days before and the people in the room describe it in such awestruck tones, like we saw her as if her government was going to crumble around her you know, they were taken around her you know, they were ta ken by around her you know, they were taken by that. The fact sheet could turn that around by, lets face it, we will hear about ireland later, keating became down the road, but the fact that we have got past phase one the fact that we have got past phase one keating became down the road. The fact we have a real sight of relief kicking the can down the road. You know, iwas relief kicking the can down the road. You know, i was still calling people yesterday on a sunday and i am amazed they take my calls on sunday. I was marching in the countryside on the phone talking about, i was saying attitude towards the uk, negative no, are sort of feeling buoyed by what happened. Interesting in the press co nfe re nce happened. Interesting in the press Conference Last Week on friday when Jean Claude Juncker came out with tusk to deliver the news to say sufficient progress has been made and he was falling over himself to be nice. Yeah. She was tough, smart, polite negotiator, you know. Be nice. Yeah. She was tough, smart, polite negotiator, you knowm be nice. Yeah. She was tough, smart, polite negotiator, you know. It is awful, isnt it . Who in the audience has got a cahoonas impression for later . Dangerous territory. Someone might come up to kiss you because that would be a good impression, wouldnt it . Or maybe he will hug you for ages and not let go. Wouldnt it . Or maybe he will hug you for ages and not let gom wouldnt it . Or maybe he will hug you for ages and not let go. It was interesting. Politically for her, i think, last week the monday to friday to monday to friday made me think that actually this process is just going to be like this and it is something ministers have been saying for ages, it isjust going to be like this, it will be really hard and we are going to go from the top of the himalayas down to 20,000 leagues under the sea and then i began. Is the imperial . Am not sure. I think for that process, it is going to be like that. Also, in this feeling that we are progressing, definitely you feel. We are going back to the same rhetoric from right at the beginning which is brussels saying we need to hear from the uk what they want, which is what we heard at the beginning of phase one. We are back again there now. The mood is different, positive, can do and yet they are saying we want a deal with you guys but you have to come back to us with a clear idea of what you want. They are focused on today and tomorrow without believing they are going to get the answer. And you know how i celebrate . It doesnt involve the pub. I got stuck ina doesnt involve the pub. I got stuck in a lift with 18 otherjournalists stop it only for a couple of minutes but it felt like a couple of hours. Is that fake news . No, it is real. What was the conversation . Is that fake news . No, it is real. What was the conversation7m is that fake news . No, it is real. What was the conversation . It was, how long are we going to be in here . Were you waiting for key moments or was it afterwards . What happens is that there are bits of the building that there are bits of the building that was on the down, we went to the ground floor which was locked down. I tried to lighten the mood by asking everyone what donald tusks favourite Christmas Movie was. It didnt really work. Remind me not to invite you to play in new years eve party. What is your favourite christmas film then . I dont know. I like the holiday. Can we have a brief confectionery moment are looking at the table in front of us . It has been known to have a little ca ke it has been known to have a little cake or sweet, but we have a selection here. These look like they have been bought from the supermarket down the road. Presumably we will hand these around. Air. Lets hand these out. Air. Around. Air. Lets hand these out. Air. Yeah. Around. Air. Lets hand these out. Air. Yeah. Look at this amazing. While you settle down. Thank you william. Cheers. Other biscuit brands are available. While we are digesting our biscuits, we have our first christmas treat for you all. As you know i have a deep and special relationship with michelle barnier. Do you have it with him or act him . At. Michelle barnier. Do you have it with him or act him . At. He probably avoids all corridors. No, as you will see my colleagues have made a better video. Ba ntz. Very good. By the time we get to march 2019 he is going to be running away from new. The other day when we arrived, i was the first person and he shook my hand because i think he was relieved. That it was you . Know, the whole historical process was reaching a milestone. Inaudible. fio. I saw the pictures of that meeting. He was running away. He shakes your hand and you shake his hand and he carries on, speeding up, speeding up. Im teasing. He has much longer legs of. This is emblematic of the Brexit Process. You can see the same scene and interpret it in two different ways. If you are listening to us live or as a pod cast conventionally, you can see adams brexit video on the bbc news channel and the website. Now, shall we get into our questions from the floor from our fantastic assembly of brexitcaster to have come a long. Thank you for doing that. Lets see if we can get the microphone to sally. Fire away. Thanks having asked. 0n sally. Fire away. Thanks having asked. On thursday s question time Professor Robert winston said there was a Professor Robert winston said there wasa minor Professor Robert winston said there was a minor chance brexit wouldnt happen without considering the likelihood of it, how would or could this practically happen . Will not happen . That sounds like a question foran happen . That sounds like a question for an editor. As he said, i think it is very unlikely, dont forget both of the parties voted for article 50 and the process to make it happen. I suppose you can see a situation, if there was a sudden and very clear reversal of Public Opinion, which might be the type of thing which would come about is something serious happened to the economy or some bust up in the talks or all is kind of things that we cannot imagine, but you would see some scenario that would really have to change Public Opinion and only in that case would you see any other politicians in either the labour party or the tory party feel that it was the thing to say hold on, lets have another think about this. So i think it is very unlikely but politics has been so volatile in the la st politics has been so volatile in the last couple of years, it is not impossible to imagine that is something we havent anticipated yet happens, then you could find a political way to stop it because i think not only is the article 50 process unclear as to whether or not it is reloadable mother has been a lot of chatter. Revoke. But from a political point of view, if many, lots of the mainstream vibe was that we dont want this any more, they would find a way to stop it. The eu wouldnt make us do it. Absolutely, from the uk perspective, the Eu Referendum was not legally binding. It happened and it has come political reality but it is not legally binding. Article 50 is legally binding. Article 50 is legally binding, we have started the formal process and after two years, unless there is a unanimous vote, be it the uk plus the Member States and the European Parliament could vote to extend the negotiating period but otherwise in march 2019 the uk leads. Up until that point, the uk can change its mind. After that point, when there is talk about you can vote in the 2020 election on the brexit deal, we are out. Britain can vote and decide what it likes but actually we have left the European Union at that stage and we would have to apply to come back in. If we are talking in theory or practice all likelihood, were there to be this huge event that everybody, including the eu, there is a feeling that in the uk there is a conspiracy to keep us in the. Whoever you talk to keep us in the. Whoever you talk to on the european political field would love the uk to stay. Believes the uk is leaving. Say there was this amazing reversal, under what circumstances would we come back . Actually, again when you talk to the commission they say we can change oui commission they say we can change our mind while in the article 50 process but by launching it we have lost everything that we have gained, if you like. That means the rebate, not signing up to the euro and all of that. That would be really intriguing from an academic point of use. Intriguing from an academic point of use. It would have to be so big, if you think it was the biggest democratic event, the biggest exercise of peoples will and vote for a long time, so politicians would have to be really, really sure that they had a chunky majority of the public on side if they were to stop that. A quick question to use. To use. What i and conscious of, is while we are in west and stuck on a huge amount of the brain space of westminster is taken up by brexit. I wonder, went as brexit sit on the conversations of the European Union when there are so much else that they need to talk about . Wee karabakh brexit, how marx is brexit the dominating conversation in brussels . This will make us feel bad. I think it dominates more time than they would like to admit. 0k . Jean Claude Juncker at a fume and is a goersaid, no Jean Claude Juncker at a fume and is a goer said, no one i would do my imitation. Jean Claude Juncker. He said from now on we will dedicate 50 minutes per day to brexit and no more. It was a week . No 15 minutes. No, 15 more. It was a week . No 15 minutes. No,15 minutes per more. It was a week . No 15 minutes. No, 15 minutes per week. This is not the case. It isjust not the case. The uk is a very big member state and we are leaving and that has implications for the whole of the re st of implications for the whole of the rest of the eu. Early in 2017 there was this feeling of, this is awful, we are going to dust ourselves down and be stronger forward. We are going to be more unified than ever, we are not. Those cracks will show in phase two because they are not unified about the kind of deal that they want to have all prepared to give with the united kingdom. How many rules are they prepared to bend . When it comes out of it i think it will be fascinating for all of us because the eu is good at saying this is it. As i say, it is ish. A lot of people will be seeing a lot of ishes and those will disturb this unified front that they have managed to maintain until now because they wanted the money. That is what the uk wants, right . You havent even written anything down for this. In all of this, saying that brexit is a big deal they have other big issues, the future of the European Union and what will happen to Angela Merkel because germany is so to Angela Merkel because germany is so key. I think these are really, sort of, big issues for them and plus what is really interesting to me is that all the new alliances that are forming inside the eu. We have gone, who are our traditional allies . Ireland, denmark, sweden, the Baltic States copy who are they iiow the Baltic States copy who are they now making friends with . The assumption that is that we go and germany and become stronger and i think a lot of these eurosceptic countries are banding together. You mention germany, you mentioned where is nina . You worked in think tanks, where are you now . Obviously you are an observer at the moment. When you look at the European Press and media and germany in particular. Lam german, and media and germany in particular. I am german, yeah. How does it go down in germany . Think that the public is not actually that interested in it. They thought it was a disastrous thing, but for those who are interested, the german interpretation of the eu is, here are the laws, you tell us which ones you want and then we will decide what model you get. The entire process of anything getting here to face on being completed from the german perspective, they were bemused by it. It is like, why isnt theresa may honest with her public . This is what they signed up to. I think they were slightly bemused about it, but where it is quite feisty is in some of the comment pieces. I think there was one recently where a very famous german comment author wrote that this is the stupidest decision since the euro made its voice. In the most widely read newspaper it said by by whitey. Blighty. I think the germans are rather bemused. They find it quite cute, the royal family and so on. Bemused. They find it quite cute, the royalfamily and so on. But bemused. They find it quite cute, the royal family and so on. But they think they have this weird culture of exceptionalism which on one hand they like the brits but on the other hand, they dont. I wonder if it is things like when they hear about how many sugars does david davis have. Somebody told me it was five, but then another said it was seven. Time foran then another said it was seven. Time for an experiment. We are going to doa for an experiment. We are going to do a taste test. In goes another one the. Number one. This is brexitcast live, a slightly unconventional approach. While you are doing this, we will listen to something because this week Michel Barniers team punish de marchi published a dossier of those who we re published a dossier of those who were worried that citizens or write. If you are staying in the uk after brexit, they did a list of questions that. He will take it in a minute. Have a listen to this. Go onto a drink it now down the hatch. Dont quite horrible. It doesnt all dissolve. There is still stuff in the bottom still. I expect something to happen to that search, like in the hulk. When chris mason has seven sugars, he turns into chris mason. Nice . Disgusting. Nice to drink the fuel of the brexit negotiator. It might all be tied in with Something Else because before he became a politician, david davies worked for tate and lyle, guaranteeing his own pension. You know what i love about five or seven sugar is, there is a phrase introduced into parlance when it comes to eu documents, they call them davies proof or not davies proof, meaning agreeing to conditions on a divorce deal and then coming to a bbc sunday programme and saying, actually, it is not legally binding, which, at that time, as the audience is watching, there is quite a big audience watching over there as well who arejumping up audience watching over there as well who are jumping up and down and going. Do they watch it, do they Pay Attention to what is happening here . You ask, do they care about brexit . Yes, they do. We go for the secret squirrel chats and everything and we said, so how do you feel about, and they are just apoplectic sometimes, really, that colour purple, and they say, do you think we dont read the sunday times, the Financial Times . Someone told we dont read the sunday times, the financialtimes . Someone told me outright one of the reasons that there was not sufficient progress in phase one at the october summit was borisjohnsons article phase one at the october summit was Boris Johnsons article in the paper. Oh, definitely. That absolutely put fear into the hearts of people who were trying to make the process work. Suddenly one of the process work. Suddenly one of the most famous people in uk politics, the chief cheerleader for the brexit campaign, putting his own personal manifesto for what the world should look like after brexit into a newspaper because he was cross and it made people panic about whether the government was united or not. Shall we go t