to supporting his nomination and doing whatever i can to ensure his bipartisan confirmation. if judge kavanaugh is confirmed, women's freedom to make decisions about their bodies, reforms to our healthcare system, the quality of our air and water and much more will be at risk. >> frankly i cannot think of anybody who is more qualified to serve as the next associate justice of the supreme court. >> follow the confirmation process on c-span through congress as judge kavanaugh meets with key senators. the senate confirmation hearings, and the vote. watch live on c-span. watch any time on c-span.org or listen with the free c-span radio app. >> boris johnson stepped down as british foreign secretary last week. earlier today he delivered his resignation speech before members of the house of commons. he spoke about his reasons for leaving the post, which included

disagreements with prime minister may over the handling and direction of brexit. mr. johnson is still a conservative member of parliament. this is 15 minutes. >> order. personal statement, mr. boris johnson. >> thank you mr. speaker for granting me the opportunity to pay tribute to the men women of the commonwealth who have done an outstanding job over the last two years. and i'm very proud that we have rallied the world against russia's barbaric use of chemical weapons, unprecedented 28 countries joining together to expel 153 spies in protest of what happened. we have rejuvenated the commonwealth with a superb summit, zimbabwe back on the path to membership and angola now wanting to join.

we are leading global campaigns against illegal wildlife trade and in favor of 12 years of quality education for every girl and we have a flag, the union flag going up in nine new missions, in the pacific, caribbean, and africa and more to come so we have overtaken france to be the biggest diplomatic network of any european country. none of this would have been possible without the support of my humble friend the prime minister. everyone who has worked with her will recognize her courage and her resilience, and it was privilege to collaborate with her in promoting global britain, a vision for this country that she set out with great clarity at lancaster house on january 17th last year. a country eager as she said, not just to do a bold ambitious and comprehensive free trade agreement with the eu, out of

the customs union, out of the single market, but also to do new free trade deals around the world. i thought it was the right vision then. i think so today. but in the 18 months that have followed, it's as though a fog of self-doubt has descended, and even though our friends and partners liked the vision, it was what they were expecting from an ambitious partner, what they understood even though the commentators liked it, and the markets liked it, my friend the chance your -- chancellor i'm sure observed the pound soared. we never turned that vision into a negotiating position in brussels, and we never made it into a negotiating offer. instead we differed and went through our negotiating capital. we agreed to hand over a 40

billion pound exit fee with no discussion of our future economic relationship. we accepted the jurisdiction of the european court over key aspects of the withdrawal agreement. and worst of all, we allowed the question of the northern border which had hitherto had been assumed on all sides to become so politically charged as to dominate the debate. :: >> two different jurisdictions. in fact, there already are.

there can be checks away from the border and technical solutions as the prime minister rightly described at mansion house. in fact, there already are. but when i and other colleagues -- and i single out my right honorable friend bryson how howden -- proposed regulatory checks remotely. those proposals were never even properly examined as if such solutions had become intellectually undesirable in the context of the argument. and somehow after the december joint report whose backstop arrangement we were all told was entirely provisional, never to be invoked, it became a taboo even to discuss technical fixes. so, mr. speaker, after 18 months of stealthy retreat, we have

come from the bright certainties of lancaster house to the agreement. you put them side by side, lancaster house said laws will once again be made in westminster. lancaster house said it would be wrong to comply with e.u. regulations without having a vote on what those rules and regulations are. chequors now makes us rules takers. lancaster house says we don't want anything that leaves us half in, half out, we do not see the -- [inaudible] as we leave. checkers says that we will remain in lock step on goods and agri foods and much more besides with disputes ultimately regulated by the european court

of justice. far from making laws in westminster, there are large sectors in which ministers will have no power to administrative or even deviate. after decades in which u.k. ministers have gone to brussels and expostulated against costly e.u. regulation, we are now claiming that we must accept every -- for our economic health with no say of our own and no way of protecting our businesses and entrepreneurs from rules now and in the future that may not be in their interests. my right honorable friend the chancellor was asked to identify the biggest single opportunity from brexit. after some thought he said regulatory innovation. well, there may be some regulatory the innovation post-brexit. it won't be, alas, coming from the u.k. and certainly not in those areas. we are volunteering for economic

vas -- [inaudible] not just in economic goods, but we will be forced to match e.u. arrangements on the environment, social affairs and much else besides. and, of course, we all want high standards. but it is hard to see, i say to my right honorable friend, it is hard to see how the conservative government of the 1980s could have done its vital supply-side reforms with those freedoms tak taken. away. and the result of accepting the e.u.'s rule books and of our proposals for a fantastical heath robinson customs arrangement is that we have much less scope to do free trade here as the paper actually acknowledges and which we should all, frankly, acknowledge. because otherwise if we pretend otherwise, we continue to make

the fatal mistake of underestimating the intelligence of the public; saying one thing to the e.u. about what we are doing and then saying another thing to the electorate. and given that in important ways this is, in important ways, this is bino, brexit in name only. i'm, of course, unable to accept it or support it as i said in the cabinet section. and i'm happy now to speak out against and be able to do so. mr. speaker, it is not too late to save brexit. we have time in these negotiations. we have changed tack once, and we change again. the problem is not that we failed to make the case for a free trade agreement of the kind spelled out in lancaster house.

we haven't even tried. we must try now, because we will not get another chance to get it right. and it is absolute nonsense to imagine, as i fear some of my colleagues do, that we can somehow afford to make a botched treaty now and then break and reset the bone later on. because we have seen even in these talks how the supposedly provisional becomes eternal. and we have the time and i believe the prime minister has the support of parliament. remember the enthusiasm for lancaster house and for mansion house. and it was clear last night, it was clear last night there was no majority in this house for a return to the custom the union. with goodwill and common sense, we can address the concerns about the northern irish border

and all other borders. we have fully two and a half years to make the technical preparations along with preparations for a world trade outcome. those preparations, which we should now accelerate. we should not and need not be stampeded by anyone. so let us, again, aim explicitly for that glorious vision of lancaster house, a strong, independent, self-governing britain that is genuinely open to the world. not the miserable, permanent limbo of czechers. not the democratic disaster of ongoing harmonization with no way out and no say for the u.k. we need to take one decision now before all others, and that is to believe in this country and what -- [inaudible] because i can tell you, mr.

speaker, that the u.k.'s admirers, and there are millions if not billions across the world, are fully expecting us to do what we said and to take back control and to be able to set new standards for technologies in which we excel, to behave not as rules takers, but as great, independent actors on the world stage and to do free trade are deals, proper free trade deals for the benefit and the prosperity of the british people. that was the vision of brexit that we fought for, that was the vision that the prime minister rightly described last year. that is the prize that is still attainable. there is time. and if the prime minister can fix that vision once again before us, then i believe she can deliver a great brexit for britain. with a positive,