News and Opinion

Claudia Pritchard on a festive masterpiece which – as a result of technology and the requirements of being covid-secure – can now be viewed as never before. “A Foreign Gentleman has brought into England a picture that astonishes every person who has seen it… It is to be viewed.. from ten in the morning till […]

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has admitted there might not be “appetite” amongst the public for him to run in an election again – even if Boris Johnson delivers a ‘Brexit in name only’. The politician – who lost in all seven elections he stood in and dropped out of the latest – said although […]

Priti Patel has sparred with a Sky News presenter after he suggested Britain could be “less safe” after Brexit. The home secretary threw aside claims Britain’s security and intelligence operations would be jeopardised by a no-deal Brexit. She appeared on Sky News to assuage concerns. Presenter Niall Paterson asked: “As things stand we do not […]

Nigel Farage has insisted his £10,000 bet on Donald Trump winning the US election was a “great price” after he was asked if he accepted he has lost his money. Farage appeared on ITV’s Peston to defend the money he spent ahead of election day, and still refused to accept it was a fair election. He said: […]

LIZ GERARD offers a lexicon for the last year, including many words you will never want to hear again. Activist lawyers Misguided solicitors and barristers who want the courts and the law, rather than Priti Patel, to determine whether migrants she doesn’t like should be deported. Anti-vaxxers Vocal ‘libertarians’ with a death wish for others. Often also […]

French president Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for Covid-19. The Elysée palace announced that Macron took a test for coronavirus on Thursday and received a positive result, meaning he will now self-isolate for seven days. Macron is “still in charge”, an official said, and will now work remotely. He follows other world leaders including Boris […]

Things look particularly bleak this Christmas, but JAMES BALL finds some cause for optimism.  The midwinter is notoriously a bleak season – not for nothing is there a whole song along that theme. Similarly, it’s not coincidental that most cultures and religions mark some celebration of light or of joy in the middle of this […]

Once a fervent Eurosceptic, ED WEST explains why he has come to believe that leaving the EU will be a terrible blunder, in a thoughtful essay that will be a difficult read for Brexiteers and Remainers alike. Like a never-ending television series that should have been cancelled years ago, the Brexit saga reaches yet another season finale […]

Brexiteers in government – along with the prime minister – have been accused by former Brexit Party MEPs of ‘selling out’ to Brussels. In a sign of discontent over any Brexit agreement with the EU, Alexandra Phillips and Ben Habib have penned a column in the Daily Telegraph accusing the biggest proponents of the project in the Tory […]

Donald Trump is looking to secure a series of ‘mini’ Brexit trade deals with the UK, his trade chief has claimed. Trade representative Robert Lighthizer suggested that the US and UK could agree deals which reduce tariffs on items such as Scotch whisky if a pact is successful. The government hopes to broker a full free trade […]

An SNP MP has been suspended from a House of Commons sitting after he protested against the approval of controversial Brexit legislation. The party’s business spokesman Drew Hendry shouted “this is an outrage” as proceedings on the UK Internal Market Bill came to a conclusion following a lengthy parliamentary battle in recent weeks. Deputy speaker […]

TIM WALKER on the furore over the Mail on Sunday’s Brexit story, and a difference of opinion between Michael Gove and Sarah Vine over the scandal involving the Sky News broadcaster. The Mail on Sunday‘s incendiary headline that stated “Merkel wants Britain ‘to crawl across broken glass'” resulted in widespread condemnation as the EU-UK Brexit talks […]

TIM WALKER reviews Love Letters, at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, until February 7 (run currently paused). Theodore Roosevelt got it right when he said that it’s not the critic who counts, but the man who’s actually in the arena. I found myself recalling the American president’s words when I saw Bill Kenwright in his socially-distanced seat at the opening […]

Remainers are patriots who will be as pained as anyone by the damage that Brexit is about to cause their country, says IAN DUNT. The trap is right there waiting for us. Next month, Brexit goes from a theoretical issue to a practical reality. It will play out in declining GDP growth, investment, productivity and […]

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL on how the UK needed someone serious to take charge of Brexit – but ended up with Boris Johnson. When Boris Johnson first became prime minister, I called round a few contacts in European capitals, to get a feel for how they viewed what was by any calculation quite a major change from […]

Despite his establishment credentials the author John le Carré remained an outsider all his life, says CHARLIE CONNELLY, and was increasingly radicalised by Europe and Brexit.  There’s a broad perception that people become calmer politically as they grow older, the youthful firebrand activist gradually sensing the flames of radicalism dying down towards a dotage of faintly glowing […]

The British government has been called a “disgrace” after UNICEF was forced to intervene in the country’s food crisis for the first time ever. The UN agency said Covid-19 had left British youngsters facing the biggest crisis since the Second World War and donated £25,000 to a charity feeding Britain’s hungry children. Since the first national lockdown […]

Tory MP Michael Fabricant was cut-off by the House of Commons speaker after he branded Labour leader Keir Starmer a “smarmy lawyer”. The Conservative politician for Lichfield used his question at Prime Minister’s Question to claim the Labour leader was looking to change the rules on Christmas. He told MPs: “Look, on the subject of […]

Emergency stop-gap Brexit legislation is set to be rushed through the House of Lords in a day to ensure the UK is ready for its final departure from the EU at the end of the year. The “panic stations” bill has led to accusations of “chaos” being levelled at the government. The criticism came as […]

A BBC factchecker has debunked Boris Johnson’s claims that coronavirus infection rates were falling across England. Politics Live‘s Joel Massey said government data showed the majority of local authority areas reported an increase in cases over the past week. Johnson had declared that a “huge amount of progress” had been made to bringing down infection rates. His comments comes as […]

The gender pay gap has significantly widened at the Department for International Trade (DIT) run by women and equalities minister Liz Truss, new figures reveal. Labour said the growing divide “raises serious questions” about the government’s commitment to close the gender pay gap when Truss’s department is “clearly going backwards”. The gap in the DIT, […]

Downing Street has defended Dominic Cummings being handed a pay rise of around £45,000 as taking the senior aide to the “correct level of salary” for his role. The prime minister’s press secretary Allegra Stratton said: “This was a matter for the Cabinet Office special adviser pay committee, that’s where the decisions are taken. “It’s […]

Today’s PMQs was  – definitely? maybe? – the last of 2020. That makes the session technically the Christmas special, and while, unlike most TV spectaculars, this gratifyingly wasn’t twice the usual length, at least it provided all the catchphrases you’ve come to know and love since Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer came to occupy the […]

Sir Keir Starmer has chided Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) after he granted Dominic Cummings a £40,000 pay raise while at the same time enforcing a pay freeze on public sector workers.  In his return to the chamber since self-isolating, Sir Keir said: “Another major mistake of the past 12 months is losing public trust. “We all know what […]

The SNP’s Ian Blackford has demanded an economic analysis of Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans. The party’s Westminster leader a “detailed economic assessment of the cost to the UK of his extreme Tory Brexit plans” before MPs are asked to vote on any possible deal. The Scottish politician claimed at Prime Minister’s Questions that the Tory […]

Subscribers of a Tory Party newsletter in Northamptonshire have been advised to campaign like Donald Trump by “weaponising fake news”. Activists were told they could “learn lessons” from Trump, adding: “A lie can go round the world before the truth can get its boots on.” It calls on members to “fight woke-ism” and attacks Labour’s landmark […]

England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will press ahead with a relaxation of coronavirus restrictions over Christmas. Boris Johnson urged people to “exercise extreme caution” as they celebrate Christmas amid fears about the spread of coronavirus but up to three households will still be allowed to mix between December 23 and 27. Talks involving the UK government […]

The government is to press ahead with the easing of coronavirus restrictions over Christmas even though it will lead to an increase in the infection rate, a senior minister has said. Communities secretary Robert Jenrick said that it would be up to people to make a “personal judgment” whether they wanted to meet up with […]

The TV broadcasting watchdog is looking into the comments Emily Maitlis made about Dominic Cummings after he broke lockdown earlier this year. The Newsnight coverage centred on the former senior adviser to Boris Johnson’s trip from London to Durham during the first lockdown. The BBC previously ruled that the presenter’s comments about Dominic Cummings, breached impartiality rules.  […]

A former prime minister of the Republic of Ireland said a Brexit deal was inevitable “as long as” Boris Johnson does not get involved. Bertie Ahern, who helped broker the Good Friday Agreement, said striking a deal was only a matter of time and trade-offs. Ahern told POLITICO the EU could give into Britain’s demands on fishing […]

A minister in Boris Johnson’s government has claimed he will “miss” Donald Trump, claiming he was “quite a good friend”.  Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has insisted that the president has always fought Britain’s corner on the world stage. He told The Sun: “I’ll miss Donald Trump, because he was quite a good friend to Britain.” Speaking during a […]

Boris Johnson has told Eurosceptic members of the Tory party’s European Research Group that they should ignore the messages coming from the European Union about a Brexit deal. According to the Express, Conservative backbenchers were told by the prime minister to ignore the “propaganda” and “fake news” from Brussels which has left Brexiteers unhappy. It […]