Just yesterday he said the chance of securing a deal with the EU was ‘touch and go’ but today, Boris Johnson believes a no-deal Brexit could be avoided after all.

Speaking from the G7 Summit in Biarritz, France, the Prime Minister said he believes it’s more likely Britain will leave the EU with a deal now that his messages on the Irish backstop and £39 billion divorce bill have ‘landed’.

He told Sky News the chances he will get a Brexit deal are ‘improving’ and claimed there was now a ‘reasonable chance’ that the UK will leave the EU on 31 October with an agreed deal.

But he repeated his stance that the UK’s current withdrawal agreement is ‘dead’ and warned that without a Brexit deal, Britain is not legally obliged to stump up the full £39bn EU divorce bill.

Before his meeting with European Council president Donald Tusk on Sunday, Mr Johnson said a no-deal Brexit depends ‘entirely’ on the EU.

He was asked whether he stood by his previous statement that the odds of a no-deal Brexit were ‘a million to one’ and answered: ‘I think in the last few days we’ve had quite a lot of success in landing some messages about what the UK can do and can’t do.

‘Let’s be clear, I think at the moment there’s a reasonable chance that we’ll get a deal.

‘But, in order to get that deal – to repeat my message – we’ve got to prepare to come out without one.’

On the final day of his first international summit, the prime minister discussed boosting trade with the leaders of Japan, Australia and Egypt as the Brexit date hurtles closer.

During a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe he committed to pursuing an ‘ambitious free trade agreement’ after Brexit, building on the existing deal with the EU.

And Number 10 said that in talks with Australian leader Scott Morrison ‘the leaders discussed their enthusiasm for an enhanced and deep trading relationship once the UK leaves the EU’.

While Mr Johnson’s meeting with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi focused on their ‘shared desire to strengthen economic, trade and security cooperation, Downing Street added.

The Prime Minister was also meeting outgoing Italian premier Giuseppe Conte today as the summit turned its attention to protecting the environment.

A chair for climate change sceptic Donald Trump – who once had claimed the climate crisis is a hoax that was invented by the Chinese – was conspicuously empty at the start of the session.

Mr Johnson used his appearance at the session to pledge £10 million to help prevent the destruction of the Amazon, which is currently being ravaged by wildfires.

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