G7 summit
Britain can easily cope with
a no deal, insists Johnson
By Edward Malnick in Biarritz
BORIS JOHNSON has challenged crit-
ics of his “do or die” Brexit strategy by
declaring Britain “can easily cope”
with a no-deal scenario.
Admitting that chances of striking a
deal with Brussels before the Oct 31
deadline were “touch and go”, he dis-
missed suggestions that leaving with-
out a deal would lead to food shortages.
The Prime Minister said that whether
an agreement was reached with the EU
depended “entirely” on European lead-
ers, whom he is pressing to drop the
insurance plan for the Irish border they
had agreed with Theresa May.
He told Sky News that if no deal was
reached, the £39 billion divorce settle-
ment agreed with the EU would no
longer be “legally pledged”, freeing up
“substantial” funds for the UK.
However, a senior EU diplomat said
the “ball is squarely and firmly in the
UK court”, with the onus on the UK to
offer alternatives to the backstop.
Mr Johnson’s intervention came on
the second day of his first summit of
world leaders, in south-west France, as
he also revealed that Donald Trump
wants to strike a post-Brexit trade deal
“within a year”.
Speaking as the pair met in person
for the first time since Mr Johnson en-
tered No 10, Mr Trump claimed that EU
membership had been an “anchor”
weighing Britain down. The UK is un-
able to strike trade agreements with
non-EU countries while it remains a
member of the bloc.
Mr Johnson’s insistence that the
country would “easily” manage no deal
came as Philip Hammond, the former
chancellor, and other former ministers
were drawing up plans for a Commons
rebellion to prevent no deal.
Mr Johnson pledged to deliver Brexit
on Oct 31 “do or die”.
Yesterday No 10 rebuffed a call by Mr
Hammond to apologise for a briefing
blaming former ministers for leaking
no-deal plans suggesting the UK could
face food and medicine shortages.Mr Johnson told Sky News: “I think
we can get through this. This is a great
country, we can easily cope with a no
deal. Frankly I think it’s highly unlikely
that there will be shortages.”
Mr Johnson and Mr Trump spoke
over an hour-long breakfast of eggs,
veal sausages and pastries on the side-
lines of the G7 summit in Biarritz.
During an impromptu press confer-
ence at the start, Mr Trump said:
“We’re going to do a very big trade
deal, bigger than we’ve ever had.”
Asked about the discussions, the
Prime Minister told ITV News: “They
want to do it within a year. I’d love to do
it within a year, but that’s very fast.”
Mr Trump said Mrs May’s successor
was the “right man” to deliver Brexit
and that he is a “different person” who
will make a “great Prime Minister”.
Mr Johnson used the meeting to
urge Mr Trump to tear up red tape
stopping firms selling to the US in a
rally against “bureaucratic obstacles”.
Mr Trump and Mr Johnson agreed to
set up a “special relationship economic
working group” to develop joint ways
of boosting growth in the UK and US.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with
Donald Tusk, the president of the Euro-
pean Council, he said: “No deal or a
deal depends entirely on our friends
here. We’ve had quite a lot of success ...
there’s a reasonable chance that we’ll
get a deal, but ... we’ve got to prepare to
come out without one.”
But a senior EU diplomat told the Fi-
nancial Times: “The ball is really
squarely and firmly in the UK court.
They have been telling the press they
have new ideas [to replace the back-
stop] and eventually they will come up.
But they didn’t come up today. The
brutal fact is that there is nothing.”Iran’s Zarif makes
surprise visit to talks
at G7 leaders’ summit
By Roland Oliphant
senior foreign correspondent
and David Chazan in ParisJAVAD ZARIF, the Iranian foreign min-
ister, unexpectedly flew into Biarritz
yesterday in a dramatic twist to a G
leaders’ summit that is already riven by
divisions over Russia, China, and trade.
Mr Zarif went straight into talks with
French officials after his arrival on an
Iranian government Airbus. The devel-
opment came as Emmanuel Macron,
the French president, attempted a high-
risk diplomatic gambit to defuse a con-
frontation that has brought Iran and the
United States to the brink of war.
His presence caused immediate con-
fusion in diplomatic circles, with a
White House official saying that Don-
ald Trump, who dined with other G
leaders in Biarritz on Saturday night,
was not informed in advance. Mr
Trump’s administration placed Mr Za-
rif under sanctions last month.
But a French diplomatic source said
Mr Macron informed Mr Trump of the
Iranian foreign minister’s visit when
the two presidents had lunch on Satur-
day. Mr Macron then told the other
leaders during dinner on Saturday
night. “There was a very substantial
conversation among the G7 leaders,”
the source said. The source added that
the French and Iranian foreign minis-
ters were also discussing “regional is-
sues and Iran’s missile programme”.
“We are working in total transparency
with our US partners,” he said.
A highly-placed French political
source told The Daily Telegraph: “That
[the foreign ministers’ meeting]
doesn’t mean that Mr Trump is actively
supporting the talks, only that he is al-
lowing them to happen. If there are ad-
vances, he can welcome them and
perhaps share the credit. If nothingcomes of it, he won’t have to disown it
because it was a French initiative. If it
does succeed in reducing tension, it
will be a huge diplomatic coup for Mr
Macron.”
Earlier, the French president played
down briefings by his aides that the G
leaders had mandated him to lead talks
with Iran, which was quickly denied by
Mr Trump who said the idea had not
been discussed. Mr Macron said there
was no such thing as a “G7 mandate” as
the group is a forum for discussion
rather than a formal structure.
The Iranian foreign ministry said Mr
Zarif had flown in for talks on resur-
recting the 2015 nuclear deal, but de-nied that Iran’s missile program was up
for discussion. It said no talks with the
US delegation are planned.
The 45th G7 summit has exposed
deep rifts over everything from the fires
in the Amazon rainforest to Mr Trump’s
trade war with China, and Mr Macron
has warned that it could be the first
summit in the group’s 45-year history to
end without a joint communique.
There were reportedly lively discus-
sions at Saturday night’s dinner, when
European leaders including Mr John-
son pushed back at Mr Trump’s sugges-
tion that Russia, suspended from the
G7 after annexing Crimea in 2014,
should be readmitted to the forum.
Mr Trump sought to play down re-
ports of division yesterday, saying
meetings so far had been “very good”.PM dismisses predictions
of food shortages as he says
Donald Trump wants a
trade deal ‘within a year’
Boris Johnson and
Donald Trump held
an impromptu press
conference
following their
breakfast meeting
at the G7 summit‘No deal or a
deal dependsentirely on
our friendshere... but
we’ve got to
prepare tocome out
without
one’PM finds Brexit inspiration in
his morning Atlantic swim
By Edward Malnick in BiarritzBORIS JOHNSON began the opening
day of his first international summit as
Prime Minister with a 7am swim in
the Atlantic, guarded by police officers
on paddleboards.
The Prime Minister swam in choppy
waters off the south-west coast of
France yesterday morning, following a
similar excursion by Donald Tusk, the
European Council president, earlier
in the summit, The Daily Telegraph un-derstands. Mr Johnson swam around a
rock several hundred metres off a
beach, before a meeting with Donald
Trump at the G7 in Biarritz.
“Let me give you a metaphor,” he
later told ITV in reference to the cur-
rent Brexit impasse. “I swam round
that rock this morning. From here you
cannot tell there is a gigantic hole in
that rock. There is a way through.
“My point to the EU is that there is a
way through, but you can’t find the way
through if you just sit on the beach.”GETTY IMAGESJavad Zarif, the
Iranian foreign
minister, was invited
to Biarritz by
Emmanuel Macron,
the French president6 ***^ Monday 26 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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