Welcome to In Conversation, the regular podcast of E-Sharp magazine, go to e-sharp.

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This is Paul Adamson and I'm in conversation with George Parker.

George Parker is the political editor of the Financial Times.

I think it's only fair, George, to specify to our listeners that this is being recorded around midday on Thursday the 19th of July because events are happening so quickly in British Party

at the moment. By the time people listen to this, things might have moved on dramatically.

So that's that so

let's start with if i may george asking you finally the government mrs may the prime minister

has come forward with this finally white paper on its proposal for how to engage with the European

union post-Brexit what is the status of this white paper and the Chequers communicate?

Well, I mean, the first thing to say is that the remarkable fact is that two years after Britain

voted to leave the EU, the British government has only just decided amongst itself what

it wants to get out of Brexit. This was the white paper thrashed out at a ministerial summit

at Chequers, the Prime Minister's country residence on July

the 6th, which then turned into a white paper a few days later. And look, the white paper is the

basis on which Britain hopes to negotiate an exit deal, a future relationship with the European Union.

But the important thing to say is it's only the start of a negotiating position. In my view,

she has basically moved about 60% of the way along the road that she'll have to to get a deal in Brussels.

She's going to have to make a lot more concessions to Brussels in the weeks to come, weeks and months to come, leading up to the October summit.

So the white paper has been published.

There's been a bit of speculation that is the white paper now in danger is it

dead in the water because the government had to accept a few amendments to some Brexit legislation

...