PM warned 'high chance' of no-deal - court papers

Boris Johnson warned ministers there was a "high chance" he would fail to get a new deal with the European Union over Brexit, documents show.

The comments in a cabinet conference call were disclosed at the High Court, where the prime minister's decision to suspend parliament is being challenged by businesswoman Gina Miller.

Mr Johnson's lawyers argue prorogation was a political, not a legal, matter.

A judgement in the case is expected on Friday morning.

A similar legal challenge heard at Edinburgh's Court of Session on Wednesday failed.

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In 2017, Ms Miller won a case which stopped ministers triggering the Article 50 process - by which the UK leaves the EU - without a vote in parliament.

Outlining her latest case, Lord Pannick QC said prorogation breached the legal principle of Parliamentary sovereignty.

'Threat to policies'

The prime minister announced on 28 August he wanted the five-week shutdown - a process known as prorogation - to start next week.

This means MPs and peers will not return to parliament until 14 October for the Queen's Speech, when Mr Johnson says he will outline his "exciting agenda" for the new term.

Opening the hearing on Thursday, Ms Miller's lawyer said Mr Johnson saw Parliament as a "threat to the implementation of his policies", in particular whether a deal could be made with the EU.

Lord Pannick argued the reason given by Mr Johnson for suspending Parliament - to introduce a new programme of legislation - did not require a five-week suspension.

The minutes of the Cabinet conference-call show the prime minister had briefed colleagues about the progress of talks with Brussels on 28 August.

In a summary of final remarks about the progress of talks with Brussels, the minutes read: "Concluding the prime minister said that progress with the EU should not be exaggerated but it was substantial.

"Whilst there was a good chance that a deal could be secured, there was also a high chance that it could not."

Days earlier, in a BBC interview at the G7 summit, Mr Johnson had said that a deal was "touch and go".

The minutes also show ministers agreed they needed to carefully consider "messaging" over the timetable to avoid accusations that the government was attempting to prevent Parliamentary scrutiny of its Brexit strategy.

Lord Pannick referred to another of the documents in his address to the High Court - a note in Mr Johnson's own handwriting.

It said the whole September session of Parliament was a rigmarole introduced to show the public that MPs were earning their crust - and he saw nothing "especially shocking" about this prorogation.

Lord Pannick argued this showed Mr Johnson did not understand the role of Parliament in proposing and considering legislation and holding the government to account during "such a critical period".

'Not for the courts'

Lord Pannick went on to stress that the court was not being asked to express any view about the wisdom of the UK leaving the European Union, nor what action should be taken before 1 November.

"Our case is concerned - and only concerned - with issues of law," he said.In response, Sir James Eadie QC, representing Mr Johnson, argued proroguing Parliament was an inherently political act - not a matter for the courts and law.

He also said the sitting of Parliament was a matter of constitutional convention rather than law - and judges cannot tinker with conventions as they are a matter for political balance.

Sir James rejected Gina Miller's lawyer's claim that prorogation was intended to deprive Parliament of an ability to legislate, specifically in relation to a no-deal Brexit.

Sir John Major, former Conservative prime minister, who was given the go ahead to join her legal action and intervene in the case in writing, believes Mr Johnson's move is aimed at preventing MPs from opposing a no-deal Brexit.

Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC, who is Scotland's senior law officer, the Welsh government and shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti have also been given permission to intervene in writing.

It is not possible to mount a legal challenge to the Queen's approval of the suspension but Sir John and Ms Miller believe they can legally challenge the advice the Queen's prime minister gives her.

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The woman who dares to run a feminist radio station in Afghanistan

The northern Afghan city of Kunduz is not the kind of place you'd expect to find a radio station run by women, promoting women's rights. But this is precisely what Radio Roshani is, and it's broadcasting today despite several attempts by the Taliban to kill its founder and editor, Sediqa Sherzai.

Radio Roshani broadcasts to a man's world. In most of Afghanistan, tradition has long dictated that women and girls are rarely seen or heard outside the home.

Amazingly, many men actually consider them their property.

In 2008, Sediqa set up Radio Roshani to challenge such attitudes but quickly found herself at loggerheads with the Taliban. Although no longer in government, it has remained a force to be reckoned with in many parts of the country. At first it warned Sediqa to stop broadcasting. Then, in 2009, rockets were fired at the station.

Briefly Sediqa halted broadcasts. She asked the Afghan government for protection, but it became clear that none was forthcoming. So after a few days she went back on air, "because we just couldn't give in to threats".

There has continued to be much local resistance. Men have often told Sediqa that she is leading local women astray, and promoting conflict between men and women in the home.

"These actions are so bad that you deserve to be killed - even more than an American does," they told her.

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Find out more

• Listen to Mike Thomson's radio report on Sediqa Sherzai and Radio Roshani on The World at One at 13:00 on BBC Radio 4 - or catch up online afterwards
• It's part of a series on the importance of local radio in places that are isolated or plagued by conflict - listen to Mike's report on the two-wheeled station operating in South Sudan's largest camp for displaced people here (from 27 minutes 28 seconds)

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So it was with particular horror that Sediqa watched Taliban sweep into Kunduz in September 2015, taking complete control of the city. Very soon her phone rang.

"Someone speaking in the Pashtu language asked me where I was, wanting me to give my exact location," says Sediqa, who mostly speaks Dari (an Afghan version of Persian). "I wasn't sure who this person was and was suspicious. After that I turned off my phone and did my best to get away."

This was a wise precaution. After finding the radio station's staff had fled, Taliban fighters destroyed the station's archives, stole its equipment and planted mines in the building.

Even though they were eventually driven out of the city, the station remained closed for two months while explosives experts defused the mines and staff replaced the missing equipment. But death threats against Sediqa and her team have continued ever since.

Radio Roshani promotes womens' rights largely via phone-in programmes. One of the commonest concerns among women in Kunduz, Sediqa Sherzai says, are disputes that sometimes arise between wives in polygamous marriages.

"A lot of men, as soon as they have some money, go for a second or third wife, and so on," Sediqa explains.

According to Islamic convention, this is acceptable in cases where the first wife cannot bear children, she says, but in practice it's mainly done "for sex life purposes".

The husband is supposed to promote justice and harmony among his wives at all times, but Sediqa says they often don't. Most disputes between wives arise because the husband shows favouritism to one over another, she says.

"When the second wife brings more children, she's being treated more favourably than the first. And if the first or second wife are illiterate and the man then gets an educated wife, again she is treated more favourably because she is more educated," Sediqa says.

Often the wives who have the hardest time are those who did not consent to the marriage, having either been sold to the man by their parents or given to him in lieu of a relative's debt.

She adds that it's very rare for the women to support one another, and to apply collective pressure on the husband to behave well.

"There is little understanding or sympathy between them, because of the tensions in the marriage. Some are jealous of other wives because they are closer to the husband, while they [themselves] are more distant. So there is often hardly any co-operation between them."

While Radio Roshani is now the only radio station in Kunduz run by a woman, there are three others that were launched by women, and which still broadcast some programmes for women even though they are now mainly run by men.

Zohal Noori, who works both for Radio Roshani and one of the other stations, says that some men tune in to women's programmes, and that this is helping to change attitudes.

More are now willing to allow their wives to go to work and become active in the local economy, she says.

A growing number are also permitting their wives and daughters to be examined in hospitals, Zohal says, thanks largely to an influx of women doctors. There are still men, though, who regard this as unacceptable.

"They take [their wives and daughters] to clerics, who just tell them to read specified parts of the Koran. These women have no option but to just put up with the situation. Some get very depressed and some have even taken their own lives," Zohal says.

But if in general the situation for women in Kunduz has been improving, there have also been setbacks, partly because of a shaky security situation - underlined by a new major Taliban incursion on 31 August, which led to battles across the city.

"There are lots of assassinations, kidnappings and crime," Zohal says. "Kidnappings are very common at night and things are just getting worse and worse."

As a result, some families that had begun to allow girls to go to school with their brothers are now changing their minds.

It's also feared that talks now being held between US and Taliban representatives, could end up unravelling the progress made on women's rights that Radio Roshani and the other women broadcasters have fought for for so long.

The worry is that in the haste to pull its forces out of Afghanistan, the US will let the Taliban bring back Sharia (Islamic law).

"We're hoping that the peace negotiations will become a real peace," Sediqa says. "And not at the cost of women sitting back at home all day, and that all our achievements are not reversed."

A growing number are also permitting their wives and daughters to be examined in hospitals, Zohal says, thanks largely to an influx of women doctors. There are still men, though, who regard this as unacceptable."They take [their wives and daughters] to clerics, who just tell them to read specified parts of the Koran. These women have no option but to just put up with the situation. Some get very depressed and some have even taken their own lives," Zohal says.

But if in general the situation for women in Kunduz has been improving, there have also been setbacks, partly because of a shaky security situation - underlined by a new major Taliban incursion on 31 August, which led to battles across the city.

"There are lots of assassinations, kidnappings and crime," Zohal says. "Kidnappings are very common at night and things are just getting worse and worse."

As a result, some families that had begun to allow girls to go to school with their brothers are now changing their minds.

It's also feared that talks now being held between US and Taliban representatives, could end up unravelling the progress made on women's rights that Radio Roshani and the other women broadcasters have fought for for so long.

The worry is that in the haste to pull its forces out of Afghanistan, the US will let the Taliban bring back Sharia (Islamic law).

"We're hoping that the peace negotiations will become a real peace," Sediqa says. "And not at the cost of women sitting back at home all day, and that all our achievements are not reversed."

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