News and Opinion

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will go head to head with foreign secretary Dominic Raab in the first round of Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) since Easter. Starmer will make his debut at the dispatch box on Wednesday where he is expected to question Raab on his government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The newly-elected leader […]

An RAF plane, believed to be carrying a delayed consignment of personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS staff from Turkey, has landed in the UK. Flight tracker RadarBox showed the Airbus A400-M registered ZM416 depart Istanbul and land just after 3.30am on Wednesday at RAF Brize Norton. The plane had been dispatched from the Oxfordshire […]

Despite the over-70s being advised to remain self-isolated at home during the coronavirus outbreak, Jeremy Corbyn has turned up in the House of Commons chamber to ask a question. Jeremy Corbyn flouts coronavirus guidance to attend the House of Commons. Photograph: Parliament TV. – Credit: Archant Parliament has seen the introduction of a ‘virtual parliament’ […]

The Lib Dems have joined calls for an independent inquiry into the government’s ‘shocking failures’ over coronavirus. Ed Davey with fellow Lib Dem MPs and party president Sal Brinton. Photograph: Lib Dems. – Credit: Archant Sir Ed Davey, the party’s acting co-leader, called for the fact-finding mission to have the ‘strongest possible powers’ in order […]

An MP has claimed a senior civil servant in the Foreign Office has been ‘leant on’ after he sent a letter to the select committee withdrawing his remarks about government failure to join EU bulk-buying schemes. Sir Simon McDonald, hours before sending the letter, told the foreign affairs committee that ‘it was a political decision’ […]

Keir Starmer has led on accusations of the government’s slow response to the coronavirus at Prime Minister’s Questions – and outwitted Dominic Raab at his first outting. Labour’s new leader and foreign secretary Raab – deputising for Boris Johnson as the prime minister continued his recovery from Covid-19 – faced each other in a sparsely […]

A third of Europe’s tech start-ups could be damaged by the impact of the coronavirus crisis, just as they had hoped to gain the advantage over UK rivals distracted by Brexit. New figures show that 6,000 European tech companies could lose customers, revenues and have to cut staff, as the impact of Europe’s lockdown takes […]

Matt Hancock has denied the UK’s failure to take part in an EU scheme to procure equipment to tackle coronavirus was a ‘political decision’. The Foreign Office’s top civil servant Sir Simon McDonald had said that there was no e-mail error as the prime minister’s office had previously claimed, but ‘as a matter of fact […]

The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to grant all foreign NHS workers a right to remain in the UK. Lib Dems home affairs spokesperson, Christine Jardine, said foreign NHS staff were putting their lives at risk every day to treat patients with the coronavirus and should be thanked with a permanent right to […]

The Foreign Office’s top civil servant Sir Simon McDonald has admitted the government’s failure to join an EU bulk-buying scheme was a ‘political’ decision, not an e-mail communication error. McDonald smiled awkwardly as he initially tried to use the government line that the UK ‘left the European Union on January 31st’ in response to a […]

Denmark and Poland have been praised for refusing to let companies registered in offshore tax havens access economic support during the coronavirus. Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki has previously said that companies wishing to receive financial support from the government must pay domestic business taxes. ‘Let’s end tax havens, which are the bane of modern […]

A former Tory defence minister admitted his government could face a ‘Chilcot-style’ inquiry at the end of the coronavirus epidemic. The chair of the Defence Select Committee Tobias Ellwood told Channel 4 News viewers he expected members of his own government will be summoned to an inquiry into their handling of the coronavirus crisis. The […]

Boris Johnson is to telephone Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon, and will hold an audience with the Queen later this week. In a sign that the prime minister is preparing to return to work, he will talk to the US president on to discuss the G7 response to the coronavirus. Johnson is also expected to […]

The government has pulled its controversial immigration bill, that seeks to introduce a points-based system after Brexit, from House of Commons business. The bill – which would have formally ceased freedom of movement with Europe after the Brexit transition period – was pulled from the Commons order paper by Jacob Rees-Mogg ahead of a second […]

Theresa May’s former deputy has issued a warning to Boris Johnson’s government that a Brexit delay is now ‘inevitable’ due to coronavirus. David Liddington, former Tory MP and de facto deputy prime minister to Theresa May, said plans to push ahead with a hard Brexit this year are likely to trigger a backlash from the […]

Government ministers only formally requested personal protective equipment (PPE) from Turkey on Sunday after announcing at a Downing Street briefing it was on the way. Housing minister Robert Jenrick told reporters at Downing Street’s daily press conference on Sunday that a ‘very significant additional shipment’ of PPE – around 84,000 tonnes, including 400,000 gowns – […]

There is a ‘pretty strong argument’ that peers should not be able to claim their daily allowance when attending proceedings from home, the lord speaker has said. Lord Fowler said he would chair the upper chamber from home, and all proceedings would be digital by Thursday. He said the House of Lords Commission would consider […]

Readers have their say on how the government’s handling of the coronavirus exposes the myths surrounding Brexit. One myth that has been exploded by coronavirus is the notion of British exceptionalism. The fiascos over ventilators, testing, PPE and the rules of lockdown has exposed the UK as not-really-that-special after all. How could such a country […]

A radio presenter has confronted a former Tory health minister over the real sum the government is committing to Public Health England’s [PHE] budget. LBC Radio’s Nick Ferrari asked Baroness Nicola Blackwood why she was ‘seeking to mislead my listeners’ after she refuted the presenter’s claim that PHE’s budget was £4.51 billion. The former health […]

Polling expert Sir John Curtice has said that Boris Johnson has gone from a ‘very, very strong position’ to one that is considerably ‘weaker’. The pollster and professor of politics said that the government’s agenda ‘has been torn to shreds’ by the coronavirus outbreak. Curtice told the Express: ‘The government’s given the go-ahead for HS2 […]

US media has reported that Kim Jung-Un is in ‘grave danger’ and in a ‘fragile condition’ after unspecified surgery. Speculation about Kim’s health was raised after he missed a celebration honouring his late grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung on April 15. He had been seen four days before that at a government meeting. […]

Labour leader Keir Starmer will break tradition and take on the prime minister’s replacement, Dominic Raab, in a round of Prime Minister’s Question on Wednesday afternoon. Usually, the leader of the opposition will appoint his deputy to take to the dispatch box when the prime minister is away, but these unprecedented times have called that […]

As we head towards the end of April, Downing Street has reportedly started to distance itself from a pledge the health secretary made at the start of the month to test 100,000 people a day for coronavirus. Number 10, which did not pass comment initially when the target was set by Matt Hancock, insisted that […]

Up to fifty MPs will be allowed in to the House of Commons when it resumes after Easter recess, but the rest will log in using video links. To approve the new ‘hybrid’ arrangement, the House will need to sit physically on Tuesday to vote the plans through. Strict social distancing arrangements will be in […]

An Electoral Commission has highlighted the issues encountered within the system during the 2019 general election. The Electoral Commission, in its report into how the 2019 general election was run, said there were ‘high levels of satisfaction’ with how the vote and the process for registering was carried out. But it issued a warning about […]

Piers Morgan has claimed Donald Trump is more focused on winning re-election in November than working with the establishment to tackle the Covid-19 epidemic. Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain. Photograph: ITV. – Credit: Archant The Good Morning Britain presenter told CNN that president Trump’s handling of daily press briefings was putting American lives at […]

Remainer author Sir Phillip Pullman has said that the government frontbench ‘should be resign’ if it was proven the government put Brexit before joining schemes that would protect healthworkers during the coronavirus outbreak. Author Philip Pullman. Photograph: Michael Leckie/PA. – Credit: PA The best-selling His Dark Materials author used a blog post to claim that […]

An ardent Boris Johnson supporter has leapt to the prime minister’s defence after it emerged the country’s leader missed five COBRA meetings in the lead up to the coronavirus outbreak. The man, known as John from Guildford, told LBC listeners during the James O’Brien show: ‘I think this is a great big media blow-up. Do […]

Experts warn that overusing hand sanitiser during the coronavirus epidemic could have the opposite effect in trying to prevent ill-health. WINSTON MORGAN issues a warning. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists and governments have been advising people about the best hygiene practices to protect themselves. This advice has caused a significant surge in […]

An outspoken Remainer has called for Britain to ‘revisit’ the Brexit referendum after the coronavirus pandemic. Author Phillip Pullman said that politics ‘had to change’ in response to Covid-19, and called on the Labour Party to help re-frame the argument about Brexit. In a blog post, His Dark Materials writer Pullman condemned the government for […]

Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair has called on Boris Johnson to appoint a minister focused solely on the coronavirus response, and to establish a government department with responsibility for tackling the outbreak. Blair told Sky News that creating a department – or allocating senior ministers and business experts to tackle issues such as PPE […]

Newspaper calls for the lockdown to be lifted are out of step with public opinion. CATHERINE HAPPER says cabinet ministers would be wise to ignore the any rash decisions. In times of crisis and widespread concern about decision-making, the public are extremely reliant on journalists to put their questions to those in power. If there […]