And launches a blistering attack on his former Coalition PartnerMatteo Salvini. And a weighty problem or is it . We bring you the story of the colorado air mattresses born to roam free. Hello and welcome im katty kay in washington, david eades is in london. The british Prime Minister says there will not be a brexit deal unless the eu agrees to scrap the irish backstop from the current withdrawal agreement. Speaking in the last couple of hours, mrjohnson said he would now try and persuade eu leaders to renegotiate the deal in order to get an agreement that could pass through parliament. Going off to germany and then france and then see the g7 at biarritz and i made the point that the backstops going to come out. What ive also said is that under no circumstances will the uk be putting in any kind of checks at the border in Northern Ireland. We simply dont think that is necessary. The comments are the latest in a Frank Exchange between mrjohnson and eu leaders over the last 2a hours. Writing last night to the European Council president donald tusk, Boris Johnson said the uk was ready to start talks with brussels and that he was confident a deal could be approved by parliament. But he declared the backstop unviable and anti democratic. And demanded flexible and Creative Solutions from the eu instead. Responding on twitter mr tusk rejected Boris Johnsons demand, saying the uk Prime Minister was not proposing realistic alternatives to prevent the creation of a hard border in ireland. Lets speak now to georgina wright, Senior Researcher at the institute for government. Thank you forjoining us. A lot of back and forth going on. Lets be honest, not one optimistic grain in there, is there . It is difficult to say. We didnt know that this letter was coming, so it has taken the eu by surprise. Donald tusks response is interesting, two things he said is interesting, two things he said isa is interesting, two things he said is a reiteration of what the eu have said, it is that the backstop will only apply unless and until alternatives are found. Where he was more strong in his language was trying to ditch the backstop with no alternative is like deciding to erect a hard border. We are still stuck with what to do with the backstop. Donald tusk said those opposing the backstop without realistic alternatives support re establishing a hard border, even if they do not admit it. That is pretty hostile language. It is, but this is where we are in the negotiations, it is almost like we are too far from that cliff edge to get sort of your mind focussed and find a compromise and still who is going to blink first. But you know, angela merkel, the germany chancellor echoed some of the words, although not in strong language. We said we are open to solutions, but they need to work and that letter doesnt provide what the solutions would look like. Does brussels see this as a negotiating strategy, path way, whatever you want to call it, oi way, whatever you want to call it, or do they see it a as political bid for or do they see it a as political bid foer or do they see it a as political bid for mrjohnson to burnish his own hardline credentials. It is an excellent question. I think the European Commission are taking this seriously and will look at the letter and try and tease out what it means and what the solutions could look like. But their line is firm, if youre serious about re negotiating you need to put proposals on the table. There is a second thing theyre worried about in that letter, which is the point about the uk intending to diverge from eu rules and regulations. That sends a signal that we are going to chart our own way forward. But that makes checks along the border more necessary. So you would come back to the question of how do you have checks without having a border infrastructure . It is still very complex. Interesting points you make about still too early in the game perhaps to get to the bottom of this. Thank you very much. Lets speak now to pat leahy, the Political Editor of the irish times who joins us from dublin. Again, this seems intriguing to me, presumably from what we are hearing and seeing, the irish perspective is probably you know its, we are not going to get a deal through Boris Johnson, whatever happens with parliament, and no deal is looking more and more likely and that must be more and more disturbing . Yeah, i think the view in dublin is similar to the view in brussels and you will have seen today quite a degree of agreement in the responses from mr tusk and brussels to those from dublin. I think the view essentially is this isnt really what is going oii is this isnt really what is going on at the moment has more got to do with dynamics in westminster, rather thana with dynamics in westminster, rather than a serious attempt at renegotiation by Boris Johnson. Than a serious attempt at renegotiation by borisjohnson. In a way, it is a sort of phoney war at the moment. Im not sure that brussels and im pretty sure that dublin doesnt take too seriously these proposals by mrjohnson, because of the lack of detail in them, the lack of you know a concrete proposal as to an alternative to the backstop. I think mrjohnson is talking to british voters. That process will have to play its way out in london in the early weeks in september, before any serious talking, if it is to come, between london and brussels. So there is this ireland, uk summit, is that the moment when the two leaders sit down and face to face in a room, look each other in the eye and get a better sense of what their red lines are and how much pressure they can ta ke are and how much pressure they can take from their own side . are and how much pressure they can take from their own side . I wouldnt overstate the substance of that proposed meeting at the moment. One reason relates to what i said before, that i think irish and eu officials are waiting for and will wait for events in westminster to work their way out. We expect that there will be some sort of a parliamentary challenge to Boris Johnson. That may end up in an election. So you know that process will have to reach its conclusion before there is any potential renegotiations or any re opening of talks on the withdrawal agreement, which of course dublin and brussels say they wont. One of the things that government sources here in dublin tell me is that kind of unusually, british officials are saying the same thing, the british politicians are saying the same things to them in private that they are in public and often in talks, you get a slightly more realistic view in private. But that doesnt seem view in private. But that doesnt seem to be happening at the moment. Thank you very much forjoining us. We keep hearing it is a phoney war. But we are less than a hundred days from october 31st. A hundred days that says it all lets get to the Eleventh Hour it does feel, it feels just this logjam just sticks there. Maybe when Parliament Comes back we will see a shift. Yeah, perhaps. We have been waiting for that shift for a while. The us secretary of state has acknowledged that the so called Islamic State group is gaining ground in some places. Mike pompeo admitted there are certainly areas where the militants are more powerful today than they were three or four years ago. His comments follow a series of attacks this weekend in areas of afghanistan where is has been active and reports the group is spreading again in syria and iraq. Mr pompeo made the remarks in an interview with cbs news where he also implicitly criticised britain over the release of an Iranian Oil Tanker from gibraltar. The white house had asked gibraltar not to release the tanker but the british overseas territory rejected the request. Despite the release mr pompeo had this warning to the iranian regime. The iranian people know that the terror campaign, the Revolution Campaign that their leaders are undertaking isnt in their best interest and i hope that the iranian people work to change the behaviour of the iranian regime. And joining us now from stamford is former us spokeswoman at the un, hagar chemali, whos now ceo of greenwich media strategies. How much tension is this oil tanker putting between britain and the United States, given that mr pompeo has concerns that the iranians could still be able to make money out of this oil . Well, it is not unprecedented for the United States to apply to seize such vessels, when the uk were enforcing the law for sanctions, it is not normal for the United States to do its. Sometimes the United States succeeds and sometimes they dont. I wouldnt expect Something Like this to be become a Sticking Point between the United States and the uk. The focus is on the broader us iran tension. Things increase, the tensions increase, and i think all eyes are oii increase, and i think all eyes are on secretary pompeos discussion today at the un regarding iran. So mr pompeo made the point in the interview and the white house has made it before, the pressure theyre putting on iran is having as a results, he said his brother has less money and other organisations have less forces. We hear from the europeans that the United States is inching towards a conflict with iran. Is that a good, strong response that the white house is putting forward . Is it true that some of the proxies have less forces because of the sanctions . Yes, the answer to your last question is yes. The sanctions are working in terms of tightening the financial noose around terrorist proxies that are funded and supported by iran. You have his brother and hamas and militants in iraq. The sanctions are working in that regard. When it comes to the us and the europeans arguing Different Things or different, or about different goal as to whether the sanctions are succeeding, to be honest it is too ships sailing in the night. They arguing about two Different Things. The United States goals are focussed on undermining irans influence in the region and disrupting that nefarious behaviour across the middle east. Im not saying that the Nuclear Programme is not important, but it is secondary. And President Trump has made that clear and the treasury made it clear their goal is about undermining irans finances, or irans support to asad, his brother and others. In that regard, the sanctions are working. Will they lead to some kind of negotiations at the end . It is ha rd of negotiations at the end . It is hard to say. The United States is trying to gain leverage, as is iran. The europeans are looking at it from the joint plan of action, why the United States stepped away and whether the actions regarding sanctions are going to lead to second negotiations and the main point to remember is that if for the United States, for this administration, if negotiations are to take place, they definitely want the point about irans support for terrorism to be on the table. Thank you very much. An interesting point about there being two tracks that the europeans and the americans are moving on. You also wonder whether mr pompeo himself might have a bit ofa mr pompeo himself might have a bit of a cloud over his house. As he was doing this interview, i wants to show you some video that emerged of him when he himself was running as a congressman in 2016. Donald trump the other day said that, if you tell a soldier to commit a war crime, the soldier willjust go do it booing he said, theyll do as i tell them to do. Weve spent seven and a half years with an authoritarian president who ignored our constitution, we dont need four more years of that. From what you know of mr trump, how will that go down . Not very well. But it has been around, these things re emerge. Obviously circumstances are different now. The disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein made a new willjust two days before he committed suicide in a manhattan prison. The will put all his property worth almost 600 million into a trust. Three women today sued that estate, saying he sexually abused them when two of them were minors. This means at least five civil cases have now been brought against epsteins estate since he committed suicide ten days ago. Meanwhile there is continued focus on Prince Andrews relationship with mr epstein. On sunday the duke released a statement saying he was appalled by sex abuse claims surrounding mr epstein after video emerged of him visiting the financiers new york mansion in 2010. A short while ago i spoke to jonathan tu rley, constitutional law professor at George Washington university. If you found out somebody like mr epstein had written his will in prison in those sishs, would that raise a red flag for you . From a prison stand point, having somebody on suicide watch and he writes his willis not a good combination. But that creates a real legal muddle. The obvious intent of the willis to try to shelter his estate. It is sheltering it from his victims. We now have. Several women who have filed suits against his estate, what are the chances that they get some of that 600 million . The United States has robu restitution laws, in terms of victims getting restitution for things like Sexual Assault and child pornography. What they have to do is to put a claim on the estate that will prevent the estates assets from being distributed. Theyre a claimant to the estate. Let me ask you about Prince Andrew and this video of him at the house of jeffrey and this video of him at the house ofJeffrey Epstein from 2010, after mr epstein had been convicted of sex offences with a minor, is the prince in any kind of legaljeopardy in the United States . It is unlikely he would face a criminal prosecution at this point. He denies of course knowing about any of this. But he is the recipient now of a letter from the recipient now of a letter from the attorney for one of these women, asking for a deposition or a statement to be given in the united kingdom. That falls under the Hague Convention of 1970. There is some flexibility there. He is a member of the royal family, also the Hague Convention gives wiggle room to country as to when they comply. But the expectation is youre supposed to comply. It is an effort to get his statement. He is a material witness. What they would get from him is unclear. Because he obviously has agreed to maintain his position that he didnt hear that any of these. Girls were under age. That he didnt have any interaction with under age girls. That has been contested by some of these victims and one in particular said she did have relations with Prince Andrew when she was 17. Could he be forced to testify in the United States . That that would be difficult. You would have to bring him in. If he is doing it. It is up to Prince Andrew as to how hard he wants to fight this. He is suffering in terms of optics of this, if he refuses to testify, he will seal that story and it wont be a good one for him. Thank you very much. Italys Prime Minister has said he will resign. Giuseppe conte made the announcement in a speech to a packed italian senate. In angry exchanges, the Prime Minister criticised his former Coalition PartnerMatteo Salvini for withdrawing his support for the government. The interior minister hit back accusing mr conte of weak leadership. Heres the moment the Prime Minister said he was going to stand down. Translation i intend to complete this institutional period and at the end of this parliamentary debate, i will tender my resignation to the president of the republic. Matteo salvini, the leader of the nationalist league party, had earlier tabled a no confidence motion against mr conte. Heres what he had to say about the Prime Minister today translation all these series of insults, we could have left this up to saviani, renzi, not the Prime Minister, to express all these insults. How much more instability does europe need at the moment . how much more instability does europe need at the moment . I suppose the salvini point, it is interesting he was trying to laugh off the criticisms, because they were very stinging. But he believes he would and should be Prime Minister. He is riding the wave at the moment, he has huge support off the back of the european elections, immigration is still a big stick to wield and it works in italy at the moment. There isa works in italy at the moment. There is a sort of i think sense of inevitability and salvini would see it that way, that he will be Prime Minister. So he is not going to take his foot off the pedal. That is for sure. With a majority of economists now predicting america will head into recession with the next two years, the white house is reportedly coming up with pl