Just before you start listening to this podcast, a reminder that we have a special subscription offer.

You can get 12 issues of The Spectator for £12, as well as a £20,000 Amazon voucher.

Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher if you'd like to get this offer.

Welcome to Coffee House Shots for Spectators' Daily Politics Podcast, live from the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

I'm Fraser Nelson, I'm joined by James Versaith, Katie Bowles, Charles Grant, and David Gock.

And about 200 of observers of the political scene here in the room with us today.

Now, this is quite a big day.

Not only is it the busiest day in the Tory Party conference,

but it is the day that Boris Johnson is going to spend in his hotel room,

a few floors up from here calling various EU leaders trying to sell this deal which he is putting this is we did a cover in the

magazine a few weeks ago showing a throw of the dice I'm not quite sure if it's too bold to say

this is his last throw of the dice but it feels like it.

So James, what do we know of the contours of a deal? I mean, we know that Boris has given the

details of deal to the EU because they always leak it to Brussels, to Dublin. Dublin always leak it to

RTE and RTE always trashes it as being insignificant.

So we've had that little ritual played out, so RTE has announced the arrival, unwittingly, of the latest proposals.

What do they look like?

So the government are saying that what was briefed out last night is not what the proposal is.

What was said last night was that there would be border checkpoints about five, ten miles away from the border, essentially just pulling the border a little bit back from the border. But, I mean, the most significant thing that Boris Johnson said in his today program interview this morning was when he said, you have to be checks on the Ireland of Ireland under his scheme, under his plan. When you take against that, that for the EU and for Dublin it is a red line, but there can't be checked on the island of Ireland, and they point out,

not unreasonably, but Theresa May signed up to this position in the joint report, I really

struggle to see how these talks are going to get anywhere. Indeed, I think

there is a real question about whether the talks even actually take place. I think there is a very

...