Four of Northern Ireland’s main five parties (Sinn Féin, SDLP, UUP and Alliance) called for Stormont speaker Robin Newton (DUP MLA) to resign after BBC’s Spotlight programme claimed he misled MLAs about the true nature of his role with a community organisation in Belfast linked with the UDA. Former speaker Lord Alderdice he said Mr Newton’s position was “not tenable.” MLAs in the speaker’s role, he said, should “leave their own politics, their own party, their own attitudes to the side.”

The DUP rejected suggestions that a deal to restore power-sharing is imminent. This followed reports from The News Letter in which sources said the DUP is carrying out an informal consultation process about the outline of a deal with Sinn Féin. On Friday, DUP leader Arlene Foster said “solid progress” had been made in negotiations, yet both she and Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill warned substantial challenges had still to be addressed.

The BBC on Thursday reported that emergency legislation could be debated at the Hose of Commons on Monday to deal with political deadlock in Northern Ireland’s. As reported, legislation has been prepared for several scenarios, including a deal on restoring devolution, and Westminster approval of Stormont’s budget. In other news, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that European Union leaders need to know soon who they can talk to in Northern Ireland about Brexit.

Chancellor Philip Hammond described Brussels Brexit negotiators as the “enemy”, but later tweeted: “I was making the point that we are united at home. I regret I used a poor choice of words.” Mr Hammond has been accused by some of being too pessimistic about Brexit; this week he told Westminster’s Treasury Committee a “cloud of uncertainty” over the outcome of negotiations is acting as a “dampener” on the economy. Former chancellor Nigel Lawson accused Mr Hammond of trying to sabotage the talks and called on him to resign.

Germany’s foreign minister warned that US President Donald Trump’s decision to not certify the nuclear pact signed with Iran in 2015 could bring the danger of war close to Europe. Mr Trump has given the US Congress days to decide whether to re-impose sanctions on Iran which were lifted last year as part of the deal; Mr Trump warned that he may seek to terminate the deal completely. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said walking away from the deal would be boost Iran’s hardliners who seek more protection from America.

Also published on Medium.