News and Opinion

A French MEP has accused Boris Johnson over ‘underestimating the determination’ of the European Union during Brexit talks. Mireille Clapot claimed the prime minister had miscalculated the EU’s ability to negotiate and remain united, claiming he was paying the price by risking a no-deal Brexit. She told the BBC’s Newsnight: “Somebody said that strength comes from […]

Of all the bad takes during a busy Brexit period, it is one of the worst, and yet for some reason it is stubbornly popular: the idea that Remainers are responsible for this mess. It’s a thought so stupid a child can see the problem with it, but many professional political commentators cannot. The argument comes from two distinct […]

MITCH BENN on the annual controversy over Fairytale of New York. One of my favourite things about the Christmas season is the way that new Yuletide traditions are always evolving and emerging to take their place alongside the more ‘time-honoured’ ones. A recent addition to the canon of Christmas customs is the online game Whamageddon; as […]

The shows that filled in the visual blanks of the pandemic. As so often, J.G. Ballard prophesied it all. In 1978, the science fiction writer – who has become, posthumously, a sort of laureate of the pandemic and of its social impact – foresaw that television would evolve into something dizzyingly diverse: “[O]ne will have […]

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has been urged to drop the government’s plan for a Festival of Brexit Britain in 2022. More than 600 cultural workers have signed a joint letter calling for the money to be better spent following the coronavirus pandemic. It reads: “Amidst a background of culture devastation, where thousands have lost their […]

Question Time tonight features a virtual audience drawn from Chelmsford, hometown of McFly drummer Harry Judd. But who’ll be OK – and who will have you saying sorry’s not good enough? Here’s your guide to the panel… Robert Buckland Who? Justice secretary Mid-ranking Cabinet minister confirmed late in the day as the government’s representative, Buckland is considered a […]

Brexit trade talks could continue beyond the newly-agreed Sunday deadline, foreign secretary Dominic Raab has hinted. Raab was reticent to confirm Sunday’s deadline as a final cut-off, saying that “you can never say never” with EU negotiations. His comment came as Boris Johnson and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen agreed to scrap Thursday’s deadline in favour of […]

Liz Truss has claimed that a trade deal with Vietnam and Singapore is “further proof” that Britain can “succeed” after Brexit. London and Hanoi are expected to sign a rollover agreement at the end of the week, the Vietnamese ministry said in a statement. International trade secretary Truss said the deal will eliminate tariffs on machinery […]

Alastair Campbell on Boris Johnson’s ‘oven-ready’ Brexit pledge – and the ministers who have attempted to spin it. With the possible exception of my good friend Andrew Adonis, has there ever been a politician more misnamed than James Cleverly? Yet it is becoming ever more apparent that in the Johnson government, having a good brain, […]

A leading MEP has claimed that Scotland would be ‘better off’ if it goes independent and rejoins the European Union, hinting it could perform better than England after Brexit. Philippe Lamberts, the Belgian co-president of the Green Party in the European Parliament, compared Scotland’s potential to Ireland which remains an island away from the main […]

A majority of Britons face being barred from visiting the European Union from January 1 2021 when pandemic safety rules that allow freedom of movement within the bloc stop applying to the UK. The European Commission has said that the end of the Brexit transition period will mean that the UK will be subject to […]

Brexit negotiators have been given four days to reach an agreement following crunch talks between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen. The prime minister and European Commission president agreed that a “firm decision” about the future of the negotiations should be made by Sunday. Discussions will continue between the UK and EU’s negotiating teams […]

TIM WALKER on Carrie Symonds’ public relations guru and the latest on Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage. With the so-called Court of Carrie now apparently in the ascendency – it was reported over the weekend that a friend of Boris Johnson‘s girlfriend been appointed to a well-paid government job that hadn’t even been advertised – her image clearly needs a bit of […]

Boris Johnson has arrived for last-ditch talks in Brussels with the European Commission’s top official aimed at breaking the deadlock in trade deal negotiations. The prime minister and Ursula von der Leyen will have dinner with their chief negotiators Michel Barnier and Lord Frost as they race against the clock to secure an agreement. Johnson […]

DONALD MACINTYRE on the squealing and dealing from Boris Johnson’s government over Brexit. We’ve been here before, of course. It was on March 13, 2003, that the cabinet were told “the message that must go out…[is] that we pin the blame on France for its isolated refusal to agree.” This was three days after Jacques […]

JAMES BALL on how the spell is broken for a one-trick phoney. Any man can tell you he can jump off the roof of a building, entirely naked and free of strings, parachutes, or similar, and levitate safely to the ground. An incredibly persuasive man, perhaps backed up by faked video evidence and more, might […]

A former EU diplomat has described Boris Johnson’s last-minute meeting in Brussels as ‘just for show’, claiming the prime minister was adamant about pursuing a no-deal Brexit. Sir Ivan Rogers, the former UK ambassador to the EU, said Johnson had intervened in Brexit talks too late to yield a positive result. Rogers said officials in Brussels believe […]

A Brexiteer MP in the House of Commons has been accused of treating Britain’s EU partners with “patronising contempt” by a Maltese MEP after he claimed Britain was nothing like her country. Daniel Kawczynski took to Twitter to complain about the EU’s handling of Brexit talks. He said: “Mistake EU making is they are treating us as if we […]

Boris Johnson has been told he has “no mandate” for a no-deal Brexit after a petition was handed in urging him to strike a deal with the EU. More than 100,000 people signed the petition organised by European Movement UK, a grass-roots campaign group focused on Britain’s relationship with Brussels. Signatories claimed that “a damaging No Deal […]

Boris Johnson has hinted Scotland could be offered a second independence referendum in the ‘future’ but warned that citizens would end up voting to stay in the union. The prime minister said the SNP’s “sheer incoherence” would see union supporters win a future referendum. Johnson’s response came after Glasgow MP David Linden had asked why polls have […]

Michael Gove has been compared to Bart Simpson for his refusal to accept responsibility for the “chaos” caused by Brexit. But instead the Cabinet Office minister compared himself to Groundskeeper Willie – the fictional Scottish school janitor – only to be told that Willie declared his support for Scottish independence at the 2014 referendum. SNP MP Owen […]

Sir Keir Starmer has said that Labour will act “in the national interest” on any deal that Boris Johnson brings back from the EU. The Labour leader urged the prime minister to deliver the deal he promised, claimed his “incompetence has held Britain back” and pleaded for “this charade” to end and “allow the country to […]

A grammar school in Kent will close for two days after Christmas over fears Brexit will cause debilitating traffic jams. Maidstone Grammar School (MGS) will instead teach pupils virtually between January 4 and January 5. The all boys secondary school is located a mile away from the M20 , which is expected to rammed with lorries […]

Boris Johnson’s detailed grasp of geography is, like his detailed grasp of, well, pretty much everything, is at best rudimentary. So it fell a little flat today as he attempted to mock Keir Starmer about where he lived. Starmer is self-isolating after a member of his staff tested positive for coronavirus, forcing him to appear […]

Labour MP Chris Bryant has been rebuked by the House of Commons speaker after taking exception to apparent “disgraceful” behaviour while Boris Johnson spoke at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle called out the Labour former minister for alleged “heckling” in the middle of Johnson’s answer. It saw Bryant storm out of his seat at PMQs in […]

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has challenged Boris Johnson to explain why Scotland is “being shafted” by not having a Brexit arrangement in place similar to Northern Ireland. Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, he said: “Yesterday, by this government’s own admission, it was confirmed that Northern Ireland is getting the best of both worlds – […]

Sir Keir Starmer has mocked Boris Johnson’s “Get Brexit Done” slogan while taking a dig at trade talks during this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Sir Keir took the opportunity to question the prime minister on Brexit negotiations via teleconference after having been forced to self-isolate. He said: “12 months ago, he told the British people […]

Ireland’s deputy leader said he believes Boris Johnson would be willing to make concessions to get a post-Brexit trade deal, claiming his politics is closer to the “liberal” view he took as mayor of London. Leo Varadkar said the European Union and the UK have “more to gain and more to salvage” from an agreement […]

Piers Morgan has told Michael Gove his attempt to deny No 10 had pursued a policy of herd immunity “would not survive” a public inquiry. Michael Gove sought to downplay the claims brought forward by senior SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) scientist Sir Patrick Vallance. The cabinet minister, who chairs the government’s Covid committee, told Good Morning Britain England’s […]

A German ambassador has hit out at business secretary Alok Sharma after he claimed that Britain was leading “humanity’s charge against” the coronavirus by fast-tracking the vaccine. “In years to come, we will remember this moment as the day the UK led humanity’s charge against this disease,” Sharma claimed on Twitter, after celebrating the deployment of […]

Number 10 has been left angered after the SNP’s constitution and Brexit secretary branded Boris Johnson and his Tories as ‘extremists’. Michael Russell hit out at the Westminster government for their “damaging and harmful” Brexit ideology. Speaking at Holyrood, he told MSPs: “It is utterly incredible that some 1,629 days since the European Union referendum, […]

Boris Johnson has scrambled together a new unit in Downing Street to manage the government’s response to the “nightmare scenario” of a no-deal Brexit. The winter control and co-ordination cell, based in No 10, will report daily confidential briefings to the prime minister about emerging threats such as a surge in Covid-19 cases and extreme […]