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CNN International: Britain's New Leader, Boris Johnson; Mueller to Testify Publicly on Russia Investigation; Russia Contradicts Earlier Regret in Airspace Violation between South Korea and Japan. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired July 24, 2019 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[06:00:00]

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RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A good day to you. Warm welcome, very warm welcome. London is sweltering. But it's beautiful. It's a summer's day and this is CNN's special coverage as the U.K. waits for a new prime minister. Good morning, I'm Richard Quest.

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Isa Soares, right outside the Houses of Parliament, it is 11:00 am here in London.

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QUEST: Before Britain welcomes its new prime minister to the office, the country must say goodbye, farewell and adieu to its current leader and it's all about tradition.

SOARES: Theresa May is heading to Parliament where she will take prime minister's last questions for the final time and off to Buckingham Palace to officially offer her resignation to Queen Elizabeth and finally Ms. May will move out of 10 Downing Street. We've seen moving vans this morning, that's the prime minister's official residence.

QUEST: So totally unlike other countries, where there is a transition period, not so in Britain. You go, one goes out the back door while Boris Johnson is having his private audience with the queen, being invited to become the 14th prime minister. And then he becomes Britain's PM. And there will be statements on the doorstep of Number 10.

SOARES: Showing you live images from 10 Downing Street, the car waiting for Theresa May to leave to make her way to the House of Parliament for PMQs. Johnson is already making bold promises, saying he'll deliver Brexit by the end of October, do or die, he says.

But a daunting task lies ahead. Britain's leader may be changing but Parliament remains the same. Still Johnson is standing optimistic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BORIS JOHNSON, INCOMING U.K. PRIME MINISTER: We know the mantra of the campaign that's just gone by. In case you've forgotten it, you probably have, it was going too, probably, it is deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Let's go to our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, who joins us now from 10 Downing Street.

Is that Theresa May?

She just got into her car, is that right, Nic?

QUEST: Yes, Theresa May gets into the Jaguar, the armored vehicle that we'll follow as it processes out of Downing Street. Downing Street was blocked off after the bombings in the 1980s. As a child, I can remember going up Downing Street and having my picture taken outside the front door. But can't do that anymore.

SOARES: But she doesn't have very far to go, does she?

QUEST: No, she's turning right onto Whitehall and will process down, past the foreign office, past the treasury. Those two great buildings; there's the Cenotaph, the Tomb of the Unknown Shoulder, where Remembrance Sunday takes place, it's only a five-minute journey, as the car makes its way, crossing the carriageway, going into Parliament Square.

Now just passing the statue of Winston Churchill on the right, one of the most glorious statues in the city, and into Westminster, there you are.

SOARES: We shall be hearing from her in the next hour or so. Her last PMQs, Nic Robertson, what should we expect to hear from Theresa May in Parliament today?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think maybe what we'll be looking for or what we'll notice as the difference is what we won't hear from the others, think of some of those utterly tough and in some ways sometimes sort of demeaning in a way for the prime minister, some really raucous prime minister questions at times, where she's been hammered by members of the opposition. Even tough questions from her own party.

Today I think will be different. I think we'll hear many within her own party want to stand up and give her thanks and best wishes. The leader of the opposition will want to do something and no doubt he'll be getting his early digs in at Boris Johnson.

You know, I think what she will say, given the opportunity, and this is what we may hear from her afterwards --

[06:05:00]

ROBERTSON: -- is that she gave it her best, that she promised to try to achieve on a number of issues, she'll lay out how she thought she achieved those points.

On Brexit, she'll say she gave it her best but it didn't come into pass and it may be a lasting regret. I think this will be a moment where she can bask a little bit in the support that was so lacking before from some of her own party members.

QUEST: It's one of those moments when the house rallies, doesn't it?

I think back to the great moments, the last prime minister's questions, for example, Margaret Thatcher. You'll remember that she also failed and foundered on Europe. But I can remember Margaret Thatcher standing in the Commons going, I'm enjoying this, I'm enjoying this, because the opposition took the opportunity to be gracious today.

Do you think Jeremy Corbyn -- he was extremely ungracious when she announced she was resigning -- do you think this it is a day for everybody to pull together in praise?

ROBERTSON: Look, he has the opportunity. But I do think he has begun the mantra that Boris Johnson has not been elected by the whole population of the country and, therefore, he's not the rightful leader. This is a mantra I believe he'll keep up and I think he'll use all opportunities. And while he may be gracious to this prime minister, he will be anything but to the incoming one.

QUEST: The problem is, with this argument, is that the U.K. has never had a general election, when the party in power changes leader. We can go back to Harold Wilson, to Jim Callaghan and you can go back further to Macmillan, Blair to Gordon Brown.

But I wonder if there isn't a bit of hypocrisy by the opposition?

ROBERTSON: Hypocrisy is one of those things that lurks on all sides of Parliament in the House and lurks in all avenues of political discourse. So does genuine comment as well. But yes, of course, there would be an element of hypocrisy. But you don't get big opportunities in politics, always, to, you know, to press your point, when everyone is listening. They will be listening today.

SOARES: Nic Robertson, thanks very much, we'll talk to you in the next 45 minutes.

Boris Johnson has said, as prime minister, he'll try to seek a deal with the European Union. But has made it clear he's unafraid to leave with no deal on October 31st.

QUEST: While we look at that, let's go back to Downing Street. There you have the Jaguar outside, --

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QUEST: There you have the Jaguar waiting outside number 11 on Downing Street. Downing Street is a series of houses with interconnecting doors. The one on the far left is number 11, the home of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. We're waiting for Phillip Hammond to leave, because --

SOARES: We know Phillip Hammond said over the weekend, did he not, Richard, that if Boris Johnson, being the next prime minister, that he would step down, he hasn't yet but he could do today, after PMQs, after Theresa May makes her way to visit the queen. Richard?

QUEST: Yes he sort of made it clear, he wanted to resign to Theresa May.

SOARES: Correct.

QUEST: So his window of opportunity for that, is getting ever narrower, if he doesn't resign with Theresa May, I'm guessing the first thing Boris Johnson does is gets his mobile phone, as he leaves the palace, will be, say, you're fired, Phil, get out.

SOARES: The joys of politics, let's get more of this. Annabelle Dickson is correspondent for "Politico."

We expect Phillip Hammond, as he said he will indeed step down.

While Theresa May is making her way to see the queen, that's expected, correct?

ANNABELLE DICKSON, "POLITICO": That's right. As you say, he made it very clear, as did others over the weekend, that they didn't want to serve under Boris Johnson's administration, whose policy is do or die Brexit on the 31st, deal or no deal. So as you say, he'll want to go before Boris Johnson gets in. And Boris Johnson has been briefing overnight that he's going to have a very new look cabinet.

SOARES: Any sense you're going to who may take that job, Phillip Hammond's?

DICKSON: The talk this morning is that the current home secretary, Sajid Javid, who was one of the early --

[06:10:00]

DICKSON: -- candidates, early on, might be someone that Boris Johnson might put in that position. Certainly after he failed in the leadership race, when he didn't get enough MP support, he rode in behind Boris Johnson. And it may be that Boris Johnson feels like he wants to reward that big endorsement for him --

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SOARES: Where does he stand on a hard Brexit, a do or die Brexit?

DICKSON: He's made it very clear that he also wants to leave on October 31st because the treasury is going to be such a crucial part of planning for no deal. Ultimately the chancellor will need to release the funds to do the preparations for a no deal.

SOARES: Who would take his position? There's a lot of talk at the moment that a woman could be taking that position, a woman who has, some say, it's not perhaps not fit for that position.

DICKSON: Yes, that's right. So overnight, Boris Johnson camp briefed that he wanted more women, more ethnic minorities, he wanted a new look cabinet to reflect modern Britain. So Priti Patel, who was sacked by Theresa May for a bit of freelancing, she went off to -- her own lobbyists and didn't curb them. So she was sacked for that and she's the person who has been hotly tipped to replace --

SOARES: And she's controversial to many people --

QUEST: What does Boris Johnson believe he needs to do in terms of balancing his cabinet?

Theresa May was assiduous to try to find a balance between Remainers and Brexiteers, she was a Remainer, who is now a reluctant Brexiteer.

This is the opposite.

Does he feel the need to have Remainers?

DICKSON: We'll see in the next few hours, won't we?

Certainly the MPs I was talking to on the anti-no deal side, those who are saying that, absolutely no way would they ever allow the government to take the U.K. out of the E.U. with no deal, saying, look, we're unified for now. If in the next 24 hours he doesn't look like he's going to bring in a sort of cabinet of all of these talents, then that unity ends and very quickly.

QUEST: But there is a difference between bringing in Remainers who can live with Brexit and the Dominic Grieves and the Philip Hammonds who would say we'll fight you on the beaches on the no deal Brexit.

DICKSON: And Sajid Javid, he backed Remain and the referendum campaign. And certainly there are those who have gone on a journey, the communities and housing minister, they say we really need to get on with this now, October the 31st. And maybe a Boris Johnson threatening no deal is the answer.

SOARES: Well, what we have seen, it didn't work, did it, Annabelle, for Theresa May to try to balance. So perhaps a real change of the guard will work. We'll talk with you a bit later.

You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Boris Johnson is mere hours away from becoming U.K.'s next leader and we ask what he'll face in the months ahead. We'll live with details.

QUEST: Also, Washington is bracing to see if the former special counsel Robert Mueller's public testimony is going to move the needle in any way, certainly towards impeaching Donald Trump, which some analysts believe could be the make-a-break moment.

And we'll watching to see who leaves Downing Street next. Number 11 Downing Street, the chancellor, we're expecting him to leave any moment.

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QUEST: Those of us in the news business live for these sort of days in a funny, perverse sort of way. Today's the day here in the U.K. a new resident of Number 10 Downing Street, home of the British prime minister.

SOARES: In the coming hours Boris Johnson will be named prime minister. He won the vote to become Conservative Party leader. You watched the vote yesterday. To replace Theresa May as leader of the country later today.

SOARES: And for more of Boris Johnson's immediate priorities as leaders, we're joined by Carole Walker.

I think it's fair to say for somebody like yourself who spent her entire career looking at politics, these are the days that you get excited.

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CAROLE WALKER, POLITICAL ANALYST: The moment when a new prime minister walks into Downing Street. I remember being in the street when David Cameron walked out for the last time, having lost the E.U. referendum; Theresa May strolled in, ironically gave what many people saw as a really inspiring and unexpectedly far-reaching speech about how she was going to tackle the burning injustices in society.

Reach out and govern for all the people, many felt she was trampling onto the political territory of some of her Labour opponents and I think the expectations were really raised. Unfortunately, she got bogged down in the entire Brexit process.

I think today, when she does leave Downing Street, she'll be trying hard to say, look, I did achieve something; I have toughened up the laws on modern slavery. I've introduced an audit to look at how ethnic minorities are treated in the criminal justice system. But I think ultimately her failure to deliver Brexit will be one thing for which she's remembered.

SOARES: You were talking about her speech in detail I remember.

What about Boris Johnson's, what can we expect from him, Carole?

WALKER: This will be a big moment for Boris Johnson, he's got to try to demonstrate that he appreciates the huge responsibilities that he's taking on, show some gravitas but also some vision. Yesterday, when he won the Conservative leadership contest, we've got a bit of a stunt speech, a bit of classic Boris, with a few good jokes, a bit of an acknowledgement that some people might be a bit surprised to see him ending up where he is about to end up.

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QUEST: Carole, Carole, you know, look at the "Daily Mail." It's got Boris Johnson, for all, all front pages have Boris --

SOARES: Including "FT."

QUEST: -- with his thumb up and even drawing an analogy with the famous and funny Eric Malcolm (ph).

WALKER: I don't think anyone would say there's any problem with having some optimism, some sunshine. It's not a bad political message. Tony Blair, "Things can only get better." David Cameron, "Let sunshine win the day."

He's not the first to try to channel some optimism and undoubtedly his party is absolutely praying that he's going to deliver on it after the three years they've had under Theresa May. But I think that they will also be looking to Boris Johnson --

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WALKER: -- to show a little bit more gravitas, a little bit more of an overarching strategy and a vision for the country beyond simple optimism and self-belief.

SOARES: Optimism and self-belief can only get you so far. After a couple of days or longer, people will want to see something come to fruition.

WALKER: Absolutely. And I think with what Boris Johnson and his team are trying to do is to show, look, we're going to be a completely different team, a completely different leadership. We're going to have a whole new approach to this. This is a new government and to try to bind his party behind him.

But of course, key to that is going to be this very delicate operation of putting together a cabinet. Because he will want people who aren't going to walk out at the first signs of trouble when he can't get the deal he wants from the E.U., when it looks as though he's going to have to go for leaving the E.U. without a deal.

But on the other hand, he can't be seen to be appointing a narrow Brexiteer cabinet because that would defy his claims to be trying to unify the party and the country.

QUEST: There seems to be a view that since every Brexit road ends in a brick wall, the only hope really, as one person put it to me this morning, he finds a thin landing strip, find that deal. But that requires Europe to give him something. And it's questionable, surely, Carole, whether or not the political declaration is versatile enough to do that.

WALKER: Well, yes, Richard, I mean, choose your metaphor, you talk about a brick wall. I think there's a narrow chink in that brick wall, through which it is just possible that Boris Johnson can drive this country.

And that is, he goes to the European Union, he opens talks, he has made it clear that he is leaving on October 31st. He's made it clear he's going to have a very different approach to that from Theresa May.

And it's just possible the E.U. leadership, the commission, the negotiators are masters at the art of political compromise, that they could come up with some form of political protocol, addendum, an addition or a change to the political agreement which would allow Boris Johnson and perhaps some key people around him, maybe somebody like Geoffrey Cox, if he's a key member of the team. Key Brexiteers like Ian Duncan-Smith, perhaps Jacob Rees-Moog, if he can get them to say this effectively kills off the hated Northern Ireland backstop -- hated in their eyes -- and allows us to properly leave the European Union.

I think even though this may be a bit of a fudge, a little bit of a cautious wording, a deal that Theresa May would not manage to convince anyone of, this new approach with Boris Johnson, with Brexiteers tied in, just might be able to deliver. But it will be a very thin landing strip.

SOARES: Thank you very much, Carole, talk to you a bit later.

And we have some breaking news out of Puerto Rico we want to get to. CNN has learned that Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rossello is expected to announce his resignation following weeks of protests.

On Sunday he said he would not run for re-election next year but he refused to step down. And that really triggered new protests, that continued on Monday. Even protests we saw yesterday, he came under heavy fire after an offensive chat messages between him and members of his circle became public. Demonstrators also accused him of corruption. We'll keep on top of that breaking story. As we have more, we'll bring it to you.

QUEST: In Washington, it's a make-or-break moment for Donald Trump's presidency. Robert Mueller is testifying publicly before two House committees. The hearings begin in two hours. The hearings are happening after months of negotiations and a pair of subpoenas.

For Democrats trying to pursue impeachment proceedings, they're hoping the former special counsel's testimony tips the scale. If it doesn't, analysts say, it may spell the end of the efforts to impeach the president.

So to our White House correspondent, Boris Sanchez, who is with me.

It is difficult to know how much weight to put on this because, at the end of the day, Robert Mueller is extremely savvy and knows exactly how to give testimony. He's been doing it for decades. So he's going to navigate this. This could end up one massive snooze.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Potentially, Richard, yes, it's difficult to estimate exactly what to expect as Robert Mueller goes before these two committees. [06:25:00]

SANCHEZ: The Department of Justice essentially outlined when they expect from him. He himself has said he will not publicly talk about anything that is not pertinent or not in his own report. There's still a lot of questions out there, namely why he didn't interview President Trump one-on-one. Why he didn't interview Donald Trump Jr. or rather why he didn't pursue charges against Donald Trump Jr. related to the meeting in Trump Tower related to the meeting in June 2016.

Those could potentially come up. It's unclear exactly how Mueller will respond. We know that President Trump is irritated that this investigation has continued to overshadow his presidency. Yesterday he was speaking to group of young people and he said he felt like he was being investigated ever since he went down the escalator in June 2015.

We know Trump has been phoning allies, trying to get a sense of what to expect from this hearing. We know he is likely going to watch it live and really the image of Robert Mueller going over some of the more embarrassing instances, the embarrassing chapters in this report, could be enough to send the president over the edge.

And Democrats, some are hoping it will be enough to help them build a case for impeachment. Others just hope it gives them ammunition going into 2020, not just racing against the president but also Republicans in Congress.

SOARES: Thanks very much, Boris Sanchez there -- I think we've been doing a lot of Boris Johnson -- unless you want to be prime minister of the U.K.

That would be a lot of work. Stick where you are. Thanks, Boris, good to see you.

You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come --

QUEST: How Boris Johnson's prime ministership will hit relations with the E.U. and hit the British business.

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SOARES: You are watching CNN special coverage as the U.K. waits for its new prime minister, Boris Johnson, I'm Isa Soares. Coming to you live from outside the British Parliament. Rather hot here, Richard.

QUEST: Standards must be maintained, which is why I'm keeping my jacket on. But as the barometer rises, my standards are going to be falling. With each passing minute, Boris Johnson inches closer to being the

resident of Number 10, the top job in British politics, elected job obviously; the queen has the number one job. She, of course, will be there, because she invites Boris to form a government in her name as prime minister.

SOARES: And this is the moment, if you missed it on Tuesday when he won his party's election, to lead the governing Conservatives. The leadership vote was triggered after Theresa May was forced into resigning after losing support from her cabinet.

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SOARES (voice-over): Boris Johnson there standing up and getting applause from everyone on Tuesday. A small group of around 160,000 people, which means around 0.3 percent of the British electorate, has chosen him as prime minister. He's got a lot of work to do.

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SOARES: I'm joined by Annabelle Dickson for more. Before we talk about uniting the party and uniting the country, his number one task is Brexit. He's boxed himself in, in many ways with that.

What's his relationship like with Europe?

ANNABELLE DICKSON, "POLITICO": His prime ministership lives or dies on getting Brexit through. His first 100 days will be all about Brexit. And if he doesn't do that, then he won't have any time to do these domestic things.

In terms of his relationship with Europe, he's got a long history with Brussels. So of course, it's been well documented that he was a journalist in Brussels, where he wrote stories, taking the Mick (ph) out of Brussels, talking about bendy bananas and all those sorts of things.

So I think it's fair to say that in Brussels there's animosity towards him and there has been. He was sort of seen as a bit of a joke figure. A lot of European leaders are furious with him for leading the Vote Leave campaign. But he's now the prime minister.

So -- certainly European diplomats that my colleagues -- we have a big presence in Brussels with "Politico," they're saying we're going to give this guy a chance. We're going to hear what he has to say. But they say he needs to come in with a very clear plan. Brussels doesn't deal in big speeches, with little details. They'll want to be detail focused.

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QUEST: They can huff and puff all they like. But he's the prime minister. One thing I know here, they are realists, particularly in the commission. The commission and the council. Other prime ministers and leaders. That's why their business is done. And they recognize. But they -- the test will be are they going to give him that little sliver extra that unlocks the deal with Parliament?

DICKSON: And the question is for Boris Johnson, how a big a sliver he asks for. So certainly their diplomatic jungle drums are saying, we're willing to listen, there could be scope to move a little bit. Of course, you've got to go back to the leadership campaign, where Boris Johnson has said publicly, on camera, the Irish backstop is dead.

And to go back on that, for the European leaders, that's a red line, isn't it?

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DICKSON: That's a red line. And they might be willing to compromise but they don't see that as compromise, they see that as something that is completely beyond the scope of anything that they would be able to offer.

QUEST: On a different note, one person who will be very grateful to have this over and done with is Her Majesty because she should be on her way to Balmoral by now. She should be on holiday. Of course, duty first for the queen. But the last thing she wanted to be doing was stuck with a new prime minister.

For the queen, what's her role today?

DICKSON: So she's obviously -- she's, she's the head of state. But she's a figurehead. She does not want to get involved in the politics, she will want to, you know, see Boris Johnson become prime minister and then sort of say, over to you, Parliament. You know, this is not something this she wants to be involved with.

QUEST: Except, the queen, as you know well, I can't remember how Darcy put it, the right to advise, the right to be consulted, advise and warn. I think is how it was put. And with more than 60-odd years' experience and 13 previous --

[06:35:00]

QUEST: -- she's generally thought to be extremely canny on how to navigate political waters.

DICKSON: Yes, absolutely. But that will be very private. So Boris Johnson --

(CROSSTALK)

DICKSON: -- the thing that would horrify Buckingham Palace would be if anything from her private conversation with Boris Johnson was made public.

So she has a weekly meeting with the prime minister, where they will talk to her about this sort of political issues of the day and keep her informed. But by convention, that is a private matter; nothing goes beyond those walls. And only those two people will be in the room. So if anything does, they'll know where it came from. SOARES: It's hard to be yourself, in Boris Johnson's shoes, facing the queen, he'll be her 14th prime minister. I remember David Cameron saying he was incredibly nervous. He didn't know exactly what to do, he didn't know the procedure for it. But this is a huge moment for him, too, when he visits the queen, meets the queen.

DICKSON: Yes. And if you look at the past prime ministers, making that trip in their car up the mall to see the queen, you can see on their faces, certainly the last prime ministers, that the sort of gravity of the situation, it's the sort of dawning realization.

QUEST: There's something rather lovely about that as well. They ascend to the highest office, where everybody bows and scrapes and their word is law to an extent. But then they have to go and meet the person who is really the boss and the one person who they can't bamboozle. They can't obfuscate, you can actually say --

(CROSSTALK)

QUEST: -- so in the privacy of her parlor, what are you going to do?

DICKSON: And lots of prime ministers have spoken about how special that is. Tony Blair, David Cameron, all of them have. But there's not a prime minister that has not said how much they value and what a great counsel the queen is.

QUEST: That's it.

SOARES: And, of course, -- he'll be walking in as prime minister-to- be and walking out prime minister. That is the moment when he becomes prime minister. Thank you very much.

Now I think we are going to be speaking to our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, joining us from 10 Downing Street. It will be that door that everybody will be looking at later today when we hear from Boris Johnson and everyone will be listening for the details of his plan, his vision for getting the country out of the E.U.

ROBERTSON: Yes, what's he going to say?

What is the game-changing card up his sleeve that's been hidden to the nation until this point?

The critics are all saying and I think even the realists are saying that it is a case of the E.U. isn't shifting, the numbers inside Parliament, the MPs are not shifting, it is still deeply divided. It is not a Parliament that can deliver on a Brexit vote. It wasn't for Theresa May.

And they believe that that will elude Boris Johnson.

So what is the mechanism that he's going to take to the E.U. to convince them?

What is it that is going to change within the passion within Parliament?

He talks about energy but this will be a moment where I think everyone is listening keenly to get those insights; they may not come. He's also expected to talk about what he hopes to do to improve policing, improve health care, improve education. all key vote-getting issues, should a snap election be decided upon, should the government -- should there be a vote of no confidence in the government as well, if he's forced into a general election.

These will be the things he's expected to address and perhaps allude a little bit to what we've heard about his cabinet, being a cabinet for modern Britain, having more ethnic minorities in it, than any cabinet before, having more women in full cabinet positions.

I think we expect it to be really high on his energy quotient, on energy and optimism. But the moment really of truth, if you will, is when he gets inside his office and what he actually does. Even his words outside are not going to be accepted at much of face value.

SOARES: We were seeing about 10 minutes or so ago, the car just outside Phillip Hammond's office at 11 Downing Street.

Any word yet on Philip Hammond, whether he's staying, whether he's going?

He did say over the weekend that he would step down if Boris Johnson were to become prime minister.

ROBERTSON: Yes, he said he would step down before Theresa May resigns. The door is there, the car is there --

[06:40:00]

ROBERTSON: -- the expectation is here. We haven't seen it in writing yet, so it's not real until it's real but that's what everyone does expect to happen.

We know part of the discourse that Boris Johnson has been engaged in is who should become the new chancellor, which rather means that the old chancellor is the old chancellor. His engine is starting up now. He has a remarkable poker face, not to show his emotion in difficult moments. He's been a stable rock, if you will, in part behind Theresa May, supporting her. He's been very sort of quiet.

We're panning the camera over so you can get a better look. There are moments here at Downing Street where the car engines do start a little early. Maybe they want to get the AC on for him. Here's the door, here's the security. Here's the officials.

And the door closes, so that's the drama of Downing Street today. One door opens, you don't know who's coming out. One door closes, who's going to come out next?

What we do know is when Number 10 opens late this afternoon and here goes the door and more of Phillip Hammond's staff stepping out but not the man himself. When Number 10 opens in it three or four hours this afternoon, it will

be Boris Johnson going through it. Phillip Hammond, possibly perhaps this will be his last exit from this door. The bags go out the back door. The anticipation here is high.

He has served in government for a long time. He's been in several different positions. The chancellery seems to be one who has enjoyed the most. But he does know and he's said he's going to have to relinquish it.

His views on Brexit do not align with Boris Johnson's in any shape or form. He hasn't often stood up to make those clear. But I don't think anyone has been in any doubt whatsoever. It doesn't get anymore tense than this on Downing Street, where you're waiting for a senior figure to make that final departure from their office. The engine is running, the security is standing by.

SOARES: Nic, can I ask you, any guesses who may take over that position, chancellor?

ROBERTSON: There have been rumors, the current home secretary, Sajid Javid has been rumored for it. But there's a sense in the British media that when we heard overnight that the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has chosen, it appears, not to take the offer of secretary of defense, that Boris Johnson, we understand but we don't know as fact yet, had been offered to him, that's kind of thrown the mix up in the air a little bit.

And the key positions are home office, chancellor of the exchequer and the foreign secretary. So we don't know who it's going to be. Certainly we've heard a couple of names bandied around. It had been Sajid Javid. Liz Trust, we know, wants it, but not clear right now.

SOARES: You more than anyone else have seen a few changes of the guard.

How does that compare with what we saw with Theresa May?

ROBERTSON: You know, I think Theresa May, it came very quickly. It came on the surprise of the referendum result. It came on the surprise, if you will, of how quickly the party decided on her. So there was a lot of surprise around that time.

At this moment, Theresa May's character has sort of dominated the way she's operated at Number 10, almost sort of stealth, if you will, as she was when she was home secretary. Boris Johnson is expected to shake that up.

The atmosphere here, the expectation here, is that when Boris Johnson arrives, we're going to get our first taste of him as the leader of the nation. as the prime minister and of what the new atmosphere will be like at Downing Street. It will be entirely different.

So the expectation goes way beyond that. Senior figures within the sort of Conservative firmament are calling for him to call for a snap election. Others are saying, wait, the party is itself divided. A lot of uncertainties for the days after.

SOARES: Thanks very much, Nic.

To another top story, Russia says sorry to South Korea over a midair confrontation and then appears to change its mind. The Kremlin now denies that it violated South Korean airspace.

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QUEST: Glorious weather just outside British Parliament. Theresa May will be giving her final prime minister's question time, PMQs in around 15 minutes, 10 minutes or so. After that, a process begins, a process, a peaceful transfer of power. And whether it's from government to opposition or prime minister to same-party designate. It's a magisterial process because it involves the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and the transfer of power today from Theresa May to Boris Johnson.

SOARES: Boris Johnson was announced Conservative Party leader on Tuesday. First, Theresa May will formally resign at Buckingham Palace and the queen has to invite Mr. Johnson to form government. No doubt it will be a huge day for him.

For more, Carole Walker is joining me, a political analyst and a veteran journalist.

On the meeting with the queen, for Boris Johnson, the moment he's always dreamed of, isn't it?

CAROLE WALKER, POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely, we know from his sister as a child he talked about becoming world king. Prime minister of the U.K. is not quite there.

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WALKER: It is an awesome responsibility. And a huge amount of power and some hugely daunting tasks ahead. And we never hear the contents of those discussions between the prime minister and the monarch unless the prime minister is a bit loose with his language, as David Cameron was, once or twice.

But these are entirely confidential conversations. The queen of course, experienced so many of Boris Johnson's predecessors. And I think this the moment when it really will strike Boris Johnson, that he is now on the brink of taking the helm of the country. And he will need to get on and embark on all of those things he's talked about, talked about with great optimism and enthusiasm but has now got to come to grips with the awesome responsibilities which there are when you walk into the front door of Number 10.

SOARES: When he walks into 10 Downing Street, that will be the moment --

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SOARES: -- remember the photo of David Cameron of holding his head in his hands, thinking this is it.

QUEST: And the staff, the tradition, as always, line up and say goodbye to the outgoing. And the staff are there ready to, with the incoming. But I was listening to -- I was listening to (INAUDIBLE), Downing Street --

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QUEST: -- there's no time to turn it around in the sense of the White House. They turn it around in an afternoon. Here, the same pizza boxes that the last lot were using the night before are waiting to be thrown out.

WALKER: Yes, it is an extraordinary, seamless and at the same time a pretty brutal process. The Downing Street staff, the nonpolitical staff, will have said their farewells to Theresa May. We know that, when David Cameron left, there were a few tears shed.

The outgoing prime minister's political staff, of course, will already have left out of the back door. But yes, one of David Cameron's close aides has talked about arriving in Downing Street in 2010, when Gordon Brown had just left and there were still the pizza boxes there in the bins from the last night of the previous incumbent.

And then the professional staff, the civil service, the teams will be there waiting for the new prime minister. And you're right, that Boris Johnson will immediately be hit, not just by this complex task of delivering Brexit. But the first thing he will have is security briefings with very senior security staff, filling him in on the immediate terrorist threats in the country.

And then there are these confidential letters, which the incoming prime minister has to write to the commanders of the nuclear submarines, which are only to be opened in the case of a strike on the U.K., in which the prime minister and much of the cabinet have been wiped out.

Those letters are never released, they're always destroyed when the outgoing prime minister leaves. But I think if the prime minister, Boris Johnson, as he is about to be, needs any reminder of just what an awesome task he is taking on, that will be the moment.

SOARES: Thank you very much, Carole.

Another story we're keeping an eye on is South Korea, it's accusing Russia of distorting facts. Tuesday South Korea claimed a Russian plane flew over its territory. Seoul said its fighter jets fired hundreds of warning shots at the plane.

Moscow now denies that the its plane violated South Korean airspace. South Korea said Moscow had earlier apologized. Japan broadly confirmed South Korea's version of events. CNN's Steven Jiang is with me now from Beijing.

Steven, it's becoming rather complex, the number of countries involved and the back and forth, what is South Korea saying now?

It seems to me they're pouring cold water over the version of Russia's events.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER, BEIJING BUREAU: So in the latest twist, Isa, South Korean officials say they've received a letter from Moscow on Wednesday, in which the Russians denied wrongdoing, instead blaming South Korea's fighter jet pilots for conducting these unprofessional maneuvers while trying to intercept the normal flight path of a Russian aircraft and firing hundreds of shots at the A-50 command and control aircraft.

Just hours earlier, South Korean officials were saying a Russian military attache in Seoul acknowledged that a Russian aircraft may have indeed intruded on South Korean airspace, unintentionally due to a mechanical problem. That officials promised Russia would conduct its own investigation.

But now with the latest letter, the Russians made no mission of the apology or the investigation. So we are basically back to square one between the two sides, if you will. But remember other sides are involved as well.

In Beijing where I am, the Chinese for the first time have acknowledged this incident as well. On Wednesday a defense ministry spokesman said the Chinese and Russian air forces were conducting a patrol in the region. But their four aircraft did not intrude on any country's airspace nor was the operation targeting a third party.

He seemed to be trying to allay fears that the ever closer China- Russia joint military cooperation was meant to test the other players in the region. So given all the historical baggage involving territorial disputes and geopolitical tensions and disputes, we're not seeing the end of this ever-expanding saga just yet.

SOARES: Steven Jiang in Beijing, thank you.

QUEST: This is CNN. In the next hour we'll be at Parliament for the final prime minister's question time with Theresa May.

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QUEST: Right, well, Big Ben would chime 12 coming up --

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QUEST: -- if it was chiming at all but it's -- (CROSSTALK)

QUEST: -- it's under scaffolding. Very disappointing to see tourists all around here and a lot at Westminster --

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SOARES: One asked me, where's Big Ben?

I said, right in front of you.

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QUEST: But we're here where every major building was under construction. Prime minister's question time will start shortly after midday. The final act, in many ways, the public act of Theresa May as prime minister.

SOARES: Then in a few hours, she'll be meeting the queen and formally hand in her resignation. The man to succeed her, Boris Johnson, will also be to visit the queen to accept and also inherit the mess that is Brexit. Johnson has insisted that he'll leave the E.U. with or without a deal by the October 31st deadline.

QUEST: Boris Johnson's face beams from across every British tabloid and the broadsheets as they greet the soon-to-be prime minister. Look at "The Sun," the front page, that's a picture and a half, isn't it?

SOARES: "Dude, don't make it bad."

QUEST: A reference to (INAUDIBLE) victory speech --

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QUEST: And it's on every paper, during the series --

SOARES: -- the "Financial Times, too.

QUEST: But that's our coverage for the hour. Prime minister's question time is next. The transition of power is underway.

SOARES: Do stay right here with CNN.

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