Matthew Taylor

Sajid Javid: No-deal UK ‘will still be a very safe country’ This morning Andrew Marr was joined by the Home Secretary Sajid Javid. With the possibility of a no-deal Brexit on the horizon, the interview turned to the implications that could have for the UK’s national security. When Marr asked if security could be diminished, Javid avoided a direct answer, repeatedly telling Marr that ‘we will still be a very safe country’: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1092016349818236929 SJ: There will be a change in capability, and there are capabilities that I’d want to keep... but they require cooperation with the EU, and I have to proceed on the basis that in a ‘no-deal scenario’ the EU will no longer allow us access to those capabilities...

Andrew Marr was joined this morning by the Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney. The interview turned immediately to the divisive backstop, the arrangement whereby the UK could effectively remain in the EU's customs union after 2020 if no alternative arrangement is made to avoid a 'hard border' on Northern Ireland. Coveney told Marr that there was no appetite from either the Irish government or the EU for further change: AM: Can I ask you first of all whether you are prepared to shift at all on this very vexed question of the backstop? SC: Well, I mean, the straight answer to that is that the backstop is already a compromise...

Liam Fox - Remain MPs are trying to 'steal Brexit' With the government in severe difficulties after a week which saw Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement rejected by the largest margin in Parliamentary history, politicians are now exploring how to break the deadlock before the UK officially leaves the EU on 29th March. Speaking to Andrew Marr, the International Trade Secretary condemned parliamentarians hoping to take advantage of the current stalemate to try and hinder or reverse the referendum result: https://youtu.be/afHr_MXzcso <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.

Jeremy Corbyn: Labour will table vote of no confidence motion ‘soon’ The week ahead promises to be full of drama, with the long awaited ‘meaningful vote’ on Theresa May's Brexit deal scheduled to take place on Tuesday. The current prognosis does not look good for the Prime Minister, who is still struggling to muster adequate support. This morning, the Leader of the Opposition sat down with Andrew Marr to discuss what course of action he would be taking: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1084400384360177664 AM: If [May] does lose that vote, do you immediately put down a vote of no confidence in the government? JC: We will table a motion of no confidence in the government at a time of our choosing. But it’s going to be soon, don’t worry about it.

As MPs prepare to return to Westminster following the Christmas recess, the Prime Minister has given her first TV interview of the new year. With the deadline for Brexit fast approaching, Theresa May again put the case for her Brexit deal, on which she postponed a crucial Commons vote in December. Andrew Marr asked her if this time, the vote would definitely be going ahead: TM: Yes we are going to hold the vote... The debate will start next week and it will carry on until the following week, but we will be holding the vote. AM: We’re talking about the 15th or 14th? TM: That sort of timing, yes. However, when Marr asked if she would invite the Commons to vote for her deal again if it was rejected first time round, May was non-committal.

Liam Fox - Parliament could have a free vote on Brexit The International Trade Secretary joined Andrew Marr this morning to discuss Brexit's next steps following a turbulent week which saw the Prime Minister win a vote of confidence by 200 votes to 117. With the date for Parliament's 'meaningful vote' on the Brexit deal now pushed back until mid-January, Liam Fox entertained a potential course of action still open to the government: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OuCktv1INE AM: Shouldn’t Tory MPs... be allowed a free vote? LF: Well that’s not something that we have considered.

Boris Johnson - I feel 'deep sense of personal responsibility' for Brexit Perhaps the star guest of the day was the former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson who joined Andrew Marr ahead of what looks to be another difficult week for the government. Having resigned his position after the Chequers summit in July, Johnson has since been a leading voice of opposition to Theresa May's Brexit plan, and has argued that not reaching a deal with the EU would be a preferable outcome to what is currently on offer. Marr asked him about the possible impact of 'no deal', a scenario which has become ever more likely by the day: AM: If in the circumstances of no deal lots of people up and down the country lose their jobs... will you take personal responsibility? BJ: Of course I will.

Keir Starmer - Government may be in contempt of Parliament Sophy Ridge began the day by speaking to the Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer. Starmer authored an article for this morning's Sunday Telegraph, in which he announced that Labour would work with other opposition parties to declare the government to be in contempt of Parliament. The row concerns the publication of legal advice that the government received from the Attorney General, Sir Geoffrey Cox, which it has since been ordered to reveal in full. The government is reluctant to release more than the summary. Ridge asked Sir Keir to elaborate: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1069156690854141952 SR: You’ve talked about contempt of Parliament proceedings. What does that mean and what can it actually do?

Jeremy Hunt - Approving May's deal 'will be challenging' Today the Prime Minister joined senior political leaders in Brussels to announce the final Brexit agreement reached between her government and the European Union. The deal was approved by the heads of government of the 27 other member states, but it now faces an uncertain future before the House of Commons. The Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was interviewed by Andrew Marr, who asked about the difficulties ahead: AM: How many Tory MPs do you think will vote against this? JH: Well that’s a very difficult question and the arithmetic at the moment is looking challenging, but a lot can change over the next two weeks. But I think what all of my colleague will be doing is thinking what is in the national interest. AM: ...

Theresa May - Brexit will be harder without me The Prime Minister joined Sophy Ridge this morning to discuss the result of the government's draft withdrawal agreement with the European Union, which was released on Wednesday. The controversial 585 page document has already seen several resignations, with other ministers thought to be considering their positions. There has also been considerable discontent on the Conservative backbenches, with the influential European Research Group now calling for a vote of no confidence in May's leadership. In response, May told Ridge that her critics needed to get their priorities straight: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1064094963275841536?

Damian Hinds - May's opponents should consider 'what the alternatives are' As the nation prepared to mark the centenary of the end of World War One, and to pay its respects to those who have died as a result of war, politicians from both major parties sat down for their final TV interviews before the ceremonies began. The Education Secretary joined Andrew Marr, and the discussion turned to Transport Minister Jo Johnson, who resigned on Friday to call for a second referendum on Brexit. Hinds issued a word of caution to the government's critics within the Conservative party and the DUP: [embed]https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1061557678156132352[/embed] AM: [Are there] more resignations to come? DH: We’re in the latter stages of this negotiation, about 95% of the way through.

The day's most anticipated interview came from Arron Banks, the businessman and co-founder of the Brexit campaign group Leave.EU, who agreed to talk with Andrew Marr. Earlier in the week, the Electoral Commission announced that it was referring Banks to the National Crime Agency amid questions over the exact source of Leave.EU's funding for the referendum campaign in 2016. One of the central allegations raised is whether an £8 million loan came through Rock Holdings, a business based in the Isle of Man, which would contravene UK law: AM: Were you the real source of that money? AB: ...Of course I was. The money came from a UK registered company. It was generated from cash, generated from businesses in the UK.

With the Budget due on Monday, today's highlights have come chiefly from the leading Treasury figures of the two major parties. Sophy Ridge was joined this morning by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Hammond, who is known to be wary about the UK's impending departure from the EU's economic framework, told Ridge that tomorrow's Budget would not be the last we'd hear from him if the Brexit negotiations break down: [embed]https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1056476173675520000[/embed] PH: If we were to leave the European Union without any deal - I think that's an extremely unlikely situation, but of course we have to prepare - then we would need to take a different approach to the future of Britain's economy.

Dominic Raab - 'We need to hold our nerve' Andrew Marr was joined by the Brexit Secretary as the deadline for achieving a deal with the European Union draws ever closer. Marr asked Dominic Raab about rumours that the mood in the party is restless enough to trigger a leadership contest against Theresa May, with the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers reportedly nearing the critical threshold of 48 signatures. Raab told his colleagues that now was the time 'to play for the team': AM: What is your message to all of your colleagues who look at this and say 'This is a complete shambles'? DR: We're at the end stage of the negotiation. I think it's understandable there are jitters on all sides of this debate. We need to hold our nerve.

Iain Duncan Smith - The PM should put £2-3 billion of extra funding back into Universal Credit Sophy Ridge was joined this morning by the former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith. Duncan Smith resigned from the coalition government two years ago in protest at a lack of funding for his Universal Credit reforms. With Labour now calling for the policy to be scrapped, Duncan Smith outlined how he felt Universal Credit could be saved ahead of the 2018 budget: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1051395445958856704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw IDS: The government has a really really transformative policy on its hands... If you [underfund it] you lose the great benefit of it and then end up starving people of cash...

Sir Richard Dearlove - I'm 'troubled by Corbyn's past' The former head of MI6 has expressed concern about the Labour leader's previous links to several unsavoury political groups. Speaking to Sophy Ridge, Sir Richard Dearlove outlined why he felt uneasy about the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1048857628175224832 RD: Someone coming from my background is troubled by Jeremy Corbyn's past associations. Some of which I find surprising, and worrying. He may have abandoned them now, but I don't think you can entirely dump your past. SR: What past associations do you mean? RD: ...He's enthusiastically associated himself with groups and interests which I would not say were the friends of the British nation.

Jeremy Corbyn – Anti-Semitism 'is a scourge in any society' With the Labour party conference now in full swing in Liverpool, Jeremy Corbyn met with Andrew Marr for an interview. Marr was keen to challenge Corbyn about the accusations of anti-Semitism against him and the failure to effectively stamp out the problem within the party. Corbyn attempted to set the record straight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaiqW2z0_Cw AM: Jeremy Corbyn - are you an anti-Semite? JC: No. I've spent my whole life opposing racism in every form and I will die fighting racism in any form... Anti-Semitism is a scourge in any society. I will oppose it all my life...

Theresa May - Boris Johnson's remarks 'completely inappropriate' This morning the BBC released an extract from an edition of Panorama which will mark the six month countdown until the official conclusion of the UK's Brexit negotiations under Article 50. The programme, hosted by Nick Robinson, features an in depth interview with the Prime Minister about her proposals for the United Kingdom going forward. Theresa May used the opportunity to make clear her disapproval of her former Foreign Secretary's remarks that her Chequers deal had 'wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution' and explained why she felt her deal had the UK's best interests at heart. NR: Boris Johnson says this plan that you've agreed to on Ireland is a suicide belt around the British constitution.

Sajid Javid: Boris Johnson should use ‘measured language’ Boris Johnson has been dominating the headlines today for a variety of reasons. The news that he and his wife Marina Wheeler are to divorce is juxtaposed alongside his comments in the Mail on Sunday that the government's Brexit stance has ‘wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution – and handed the detonator to Michel Barnier’. His remarks have prompted outrage in some circles, most notably from his former Foreign Office colleague Sir Alan Duncan. Andrew Marr asked Home Secretary Sajid Javid if this was the right way for Johnson to conduct himself: https://twitter.

The House of Commons breaks for recess on Tuesday, and accordingly the Sunday shows will be taking a break. For his last show until September, Andrew Marr was joined by the Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, who has taken over the reins after David Davis' resignation and has already made the headlines by insisting that the UK could tear up the agreed £39 billion 'divorce bill' if the two sides do not reach a trade deal. Raab told Marr that he was 'striving every sinew' to get the best deal for the United Kingdom, and insisted that his government was on course to agree a deal in the timeframe they expected: DR: We are striving every sinew to get the best deal, but...