News and Opinion

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has criticised the government for dropping the virtual parliament system, and for the ‘shameful’ and ‘unnecessary’ system that has replaced it. Prime minister Boris Johnson said it was not ‘unreasonable’ to call MPs back to parliament; ParliamentLive – Credit: Archant In the fourth session of Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) since […]

As Boris Johnson lashed out at the first hint of scrutiny, PMQs suddenly seems to matter again PMQs suddenly seems to matter again. After a brief hiatus, when the gloves were put on amid a national coming-together and the prime minister’s own hospitalisation, and five years during which the opposition frontbench was predominantly staffed by […]

Messaging about the end of the Brexit transition period may end up ‘crowded out’ by coronavirus information, a committee of MPs are warning. The Commons Public Accounts Committee has warned the previous ‘get ready for Brexit’ campaign failed to prepare people for a possible no-deal Brexit on October 31st, and warned the government will find […]

An anti-racism campaign group is urging Britons to ‘take the knee’ on their doorsteps as a socially distanced protest in solidarity with George Floyd protesters in the US. Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) has organised the protest for 6pm on Wednesday as part of a day of action against discrimination in response to the death […]

A campaigner has called for a public inquiry into the impact of coronavirus on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people after it was revealed those were more likely to die from the virus. It comes after a review by Public Health England (PHE) found people of Bangladeshi ethnicity had around twice the risk of […]

Health secretary Matt Hancock has been rebuked by the UK’s statistics watchdog over coronavirus testing figures which are ‘still far from complete and comprehensible’. UK Statistics Authority chairman Sir David Norgrove said ‘it is not surprising that given their inadequacy data on testing are so widely criticised and often mistrusted’. He criticised the way the […]

As MPs returned to the House of Commons they aired their frustrations over the prime minister’s top adviser Dominic Cummings. It was the first time MPs could speak in the Commons about Cummings’ trip from London to Durham, which was revealed in the press last month. SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford called for Johnson’s senior […]

The daily Downing Street press conferences will no longer take place at weekends, Number 10 has said. Boris Johnson, who has appeared at 12 press conferences so far, will lead at least one briefing a week from now on, alongside scientific and medical experts. The prime minister’s official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: ‘From this […]

Boris Johnson’s attempts to downgrade the coronavirus alert level was blocked by England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty. The prime minister wanted to announce the five-stage alert level was being reduced from four to three as new measures were introduced as a partial relaxation of the lockdown. On May 11 the PM had said that […]

The BBC could turn the Dominic Cummings scandal surrounding his lockdown rule-breaking into a new television drama. Piers Wenger, the controller of BBC drama commissioning, has admitted that writers are desperate to pitch the drama after the furore surrounding Boris Johnson’s senior aide breaking lockdown rules. Asked by the Radio Times if the BBC would […]

Emily Maitlis has returned to Newsnight for the first time since staff were reprimanded for a monologue delivered about Dominic Cummings’ rule-breaking during the lockdown. Bosses claimed that Maitlis and the team had broken the BBC’s impartiality guidelines following her remarks on the saga last week. In her introduction to last Tuesday’s show, Maitlis said […]

Nigel Farage has issued a warning to Boris Johnson that he will return to politics – with a hint of a new party – if he ‘goes soft’ on Brexit. Brexiteer Farage said he was conflicted about calling for Dominic Cummings to leave his post before Brexit is delivered – because he believed it would […]

An Italian health minister has claimed that Boris Johnson told the European country’s prime minister he was initially looking at a ‘herd immunity’ approach to the coronavirus. Channel 4 heard from Italian health minister Pierpaolo Sileri who said Boris Johnson told the Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte in a call on March 13 that he […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg and the government have been accused of acting like the Brazilian president over controversial plans to end online voting in parliament, as backbench Tory MPs prepared a rebellion over the plans. Senior Conservatives including select committee chairs and a former cabinet minister have tabled amendments to government plans to force all MPs to […]

Dominic Cummings will be named as a respondent in an employment tribunal case made by a former aide to ex-chancellor Sajid Javid – despite attempts by government lawyers to remove him. Barristers for Sonia Khan – who was fired by the prime minister’s chief adviser last year and escorted out of Downing Street by police […]

Downing Street has raised concerns about ‘very alarming’ violence and the arrest of journalists covering the unrest sparked by the death of George Floyd. On Sunday the foreign secretary Dominic Raab ruled out commenting in detail on Donald Trump’s response to the death but Boris Johnson’s administration said people must be allowed to protest peacefully […]

Government plans to make MPs vote in person during the coronavirus crisis have been branded as ‘beyond a farce’ amid concerns they will discriminate against shielding politicians. Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg will table a motion on Monday setting out the requirement preventing virtual voting from resuming. On Tuesday MPs will stand two metres apart to […]

A Downing Street official has claimed that the government’s chief scientific and medical advisers refused to do a press conference with Boris Johnson minutes after Dominic Cummings’ statement in the Rose Garden. The Sunday Times has reported that Boris Johnson’s advisers decided that the prime minister should take questions from the media on Monday to […]

More Tories – including former ministers – have joined calls for the two-metre social distancing rule to be reduced in order to prioritise the economy. Both Norman Lamont, a former chancellor, and Theresa Villiers, a former environment secretary, have pointed to the smaller social distancing recommendations seen in other countries as cause for the government […]

Former Conservative adviser BARNABY TOWNS on the fight that leaves an important democratic principle and civil rights issue at stake. Just over one year ago this month, over one million people were denied their fundamental right to vote. Britain’s last set of European elections, held on May 23rd, 2019, may not seem of particular importance […]

A cabinet minister has been ridiculed after he allowed an interview on national radio to be interrupted by Skype calls three times. During Alok Sharma’s appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he was called three times on the software. Today presented Nick Robinson identified the cause of the interruption as a Skype ringtone and […]

Piers Morgan has said he believes officials have been ‘lying’ over the number of people tested for coronavirus, after data over the figures appeared ‘unavailable’ for ten consecutive days. Despite a number of pledges from government over coronavirus testing, no-one can realistically be sure of whether it is hitting its targets because figures shared by […]

JULIAN SELF pens an open letter to the Conservative Party following the Dominic Cummings scandal. Dear Conservative and Unionist Party, Have your say Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for more comment and analysis. Find your nearest stockist here or subscribe to […]

There have been fresh calls for a Cabinet Office inquiry into the Dominic Cummings scandal, with claims the political aide cannot be left ‘completely unaccountable’. The SNP’s Ian Blackford, the party’s Westminster leader, has made a fresh call for an investigation into how Cummings was allowed to travel 260 miles at the height of lockdown […]

Newspaper reports suggest Downing Street has blocked a peerage for John Bercow after being proposed by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Former Commons speaker John Bercow was nominated by Corbyn after Boris Johnson refused to put him forward. According to a series of national newspapers Downing Street said it would not approve Labour’s nomination for […]

Piers Morgan has returned to television screens to brand Boris Johnson’s senior aide a ‘liar’ and has held him responsible for ‘destroying’ the coronavirus lockdown. Have your say Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for more comment and analysis. Find your nearest […]

A man who described himself as a ‘staunch Tory’ has claimed those at the top of the party would consider extending the Brexit transition period worse than thousands more deaths from coronavirus. Have your say Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for […]

A new report has warned that the end of the Brexit transition period poses a ‘potent threat’ to prosperity and stability in Northern Ireland. Businesses in Great Britain could decide it is economically unviable to continue operations across the Irish Sea unless flexibility is shown in the EU negotiations, a House of Lords committee warned. […]

This episode has exposed ministers’ lethal mix of dreadful values as people, and their utter uselessness, says ALASTAIR CAMPBELL. Protesters outside Downing Street, London, as the row over Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top aide Dominic Cummings’ Durham trip continues. PA Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 27, 2020. See PA story HEALTH Coronavirus. Photo credit should […]

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has said it is a ‘sensitive moment’ as Britain eases lockdown measures – but said the country ‘can’t just stay in lockdown forever’. From Monday, groups of up to six people will be able to meet outside in England as long as they observe social distancing as part of efforts to […]

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has said footage showing the death of a black man while he was being restrained by police in the US was ‘very distressing’, but he said it was not his job to discuss it. President Trump has come under fire from some after posting on social media that ‘looting leads to […]

A Sunday newspaper has claimed that there are now more eyewitness accounts of Boris Johnson’s senior aide in Barnard Castle – including Cummings walking around the shops. The new allegations contradict a statement made by Dominic Cummings in the Rose Garden at Downing Street. Cummings told a press conference: ‘We walked about 10 to 15 […]