EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has met German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin for talks on the Brexit crisis, as Germany urges the UK to agree a compromise trade deal. Goldman Sachs said a deal was still “likely” in early November – but warned a breakdown in negotiations could not be ruled out.
It comes as chancellor Rishi Sunak defended his Eat Out to Help Out scheme – despite Mr Johnson’s suggestion it may have helped spread the coronavirus. Following his Tory conference speech, Mr Sunak claimed he did not want to be PM. “This is a hard enough job for me to do.”
Meanwhile Britain’s former ambassador to the US said Mr Johnson is unlikely to get a “warm welcome” from the White House if Joe Biden wins the election because of resentment over the PM’s remarks about Barack Obama’s “ancestral dislike of the British Empire”.