British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold talks with European leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York next week as part of his push to secure a Brexit deal by the end of October. Johnson is due to meet Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, European Council President Donald Tusk, French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Angela Merkel on Monday and Tuesday, a senior UK official said. “What this gives the Prime Minister an opportunity to do is talk to them at leader level about what some of our proposals are,” the official said. “We are under no illusions that there is an awful lot ... (full story)

Boris Johnson heads to New York on Sunday for his first United Nations General Assembly as prime minister. But even on the other side of the Atlantic, he won’t be able to escape Brexit. According to a statement from Johnson, his two-day schedule will see him “raising three crucial issues” -- the crisis in the Middle East, climate change, and “how post-Brexit Britain will be a better place to invest in and live in.” The question he has to tackle first, and the one that is likely to dominate his trip, is whether and how he can get Britain to a “post-Brexit” point. To that end, his office is setting up a series of ... (full story)