News and Opinion

A candidate for Labour has released a hilarious election campaign video putting herself forward in the style of one of Love Actually’s most famous scenes. The choice at this election... #LoveActually #MerryXmas #Tooting pic.twitter.com/laP589NlMm— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (@DrRosena) November 22, 2019 To put some Christmas spirit into her election campaign, Rosena Allin-Khan, Labour’s candidate for […]

Jo Swinson’s failure to find some common ground with the Labour leadership is a problem for those wanting to stop a Tory Brexit, says one reader. Full marks to Tim Walker, AKA Mandrake, for standing down in Canterbury in favour of the Remainer MP Rosie Duffield (“My troubled Canterbury tale”, TNE #169). It’s a pity […]

A Conservative councillor who was suspended from the party for ‘offensive and divisive’ social media posts about Muslims has been reinstated. David Abbott, who serves on Houghton Regis Town Council, was suspended by his party for Islamophobic comments in April but appears to have been reinstated despite “little evidence of contrition”. In one Facebook post, […]

Nigel Farage would be most likely forced to back a second Brexit referendum if his organisation won an election – because of his latest proposal in his manifesto. In his manifesto, promoted as a “contract with the people, Farage made a commitment to hold a referendum on any issue if five million people call for […]

A Pro-Remain supporter interrupted a Sky News broadcast to spread an anti-Brexit message to the nation. In the middle of a report about the Liberal Democrats campaign trail in Sheffield, the man leaned in front of the cameras to shout ‘Bollocks to Brexit’. He made his heckle just as the Sky News presenter was talking […]

Plaid Cymru has promised a confirmatory referendum and made a multi-billion investment programme its key pledge in its general election manifesto. The party say it will create tens of thousands of new jobs across Wales with a £20 billion investment into renewable energy, digital technology and transport infrastructure, with the added aim of making the […]

What’s your take on the events of the week? Let us know your views on the key questions that have emerged for Remainers this week, on everything from debate performances to the Lib Dem ‘pivot’. – Got other views? Email us at letters@theneweuropean.co.uk

After receiving hundreds of complaints after Kay Burley did an ’empty chair’ interview with Tory chair James Cleverly, Ofcom has announced they will not run a formal investigation. Kay Burley empty-chaired the Conservative Party chairman after he failed to appear on her programme to answer questions about the election. The Sky News breakfast presenter said […]

Organisers of an election hustings in Boris Johnson’s Uxbridge constituency may ’empty-chair’ the prime minister if he does not confirm he will show up. “We have not heard from Mr Johnson, his team or anyone from the Conservative Party,” said Rich Blake-Lobb, pastor at the church where the event is being held. The traditional event […]

The BBC have denied claims by a senior journalist that the organisation ‘does not expose lies’ told by politicians. Peter Oborne, a former chief political commentator for the Daily Telegraph, said the media – specifically naming the BBC – do not do enough to challenge lies told by Boris Johnson. Oborne said: “Some of the […]

Nigel Farage and the Brexit Party are calling for the BBC licence fee to be scrapped as he launched his manifesto which he branded his ‘contract with the people’. The Brexit Party leader said the current set up for the BBC was an “anachronism”. Farage said there was a need for “big political and institutional […]

A group opposed to the prime minister have used a projector to target Boris Johnson at the £42,000 a year school he attended. View this post on Instagram ?? FCK BORIS // FCK ETON ?? in 2010 we got a dickhead Prime Minister, David Cameron, who tried to crush our communities. We're ending the decade […]

Jo Swinson was stopped in the streets of Glasgow this morning by a young man who confronted her about her party’s impact on austerity in the region. Seen Jo Swinson in Glasgow and my pal confronted her about austerity's impact here.Glasgow wont forget what the Lib Dems did when they were in government!#JayTellsJo pic.twitter.com/AtunH8vxyA— Daniel […]

The Brexit Party MEP for South West England has faced criticism after doubling down on her claim that leaving the EU is comparable to emancipation from slavery. Batshit Crazy... pic.twitter.com/hExWmBsDpV— Brexitshambles (@brexit_sham) November 21, 2019 In July Ann Widdecombe told European parliament that “there is a pattern consistent throughout history of oppressed people turning on […]

A prankster has bought the domain name ‘thetorymanifesto.com’ and has made a remarkably profane ‘alternative’ election platform for the Conservatives. After Boris Johnson’s party bought the url for ‘labourmanifesto.co.uk’ in order to make a political attack site, an anonymous activist has retaliated “in protest”, says the website. Visitors to the landing page are quickly greeted […]

A former Brexit Party candidate will take the company to court over £600 in unpaid expenses which the hopeful spent preparing for the general election. Paul Bullen was one of more than 300 candidates suddenly dropped from the Brexit Party in a “unilateral Leave alliance” that meant they would not contest seats the Conservatives already […]

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has joined campaigners in urging people to register to vote before next Tuesday’s deadline. A total of 2,048,039 applications were submitted between October 29 – the day the government called for an election on December 12th – and November 19th. The deadline for applications is 11.59pm on Tuesday November 26th, with […]

Channel 4 has had to cancel an election debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn after the prime minister refused to participate. The programme, which was meant to air on Sunday night, had already signed up Jeremy Corbyn to take part. But Boris Johnson would not agree to the programme despite “many weeks of discussion” […]

Filled with marginal seats and featuring factors which do not apply elsewhere in the UK, how the election plays out in Scotland will dictate what happens next. Maurice Smith reports Scotland has emerged as a key battleground in a general election dominated by Brexit and the very future of Britain itself. Boris Johnson and Jeremy […]

The polls are too volatile and the consequences too unpredictable for people to tactically vote with any confidence, says JAMES BALL. And that’s before all the other objections are taken into account. Given the proximity and importance of Brexit – and the severity of the economic damage it could wreak – it is hardly surprising […]

A Conservative candidate who is set to replace Boris Johnson in an upcoming seven-way debate was asked why the PM is not showing up. Chief secretary to the treasury, Rishi Sunak, was asked on Good Morning Britain (GMB) why the prime minister is so shy of debates that Sunak is being drafted into one on […]

Sir Keir Starmer says whatever the outcome of Brexit, the country will not go back to normal. During a meeting in support of Edinburgh Labour candidate Ian Murray, Sir Keir said, regardless of the decision made after his party’s proposed second referendum, the country will remain divided. The shadow Brexit secretary said the only way […]

Brexit Party lawyers have requested that Led By Donkeys campaigners hand over thebrexitparty.com to the organisation – with the anti-Brexit group offering to gift it in return for more than a million pounds. Screengrab from the website thebrexitparty.com. Photograph: PA Wire. – Credit: PA Led By Donkeys said the entire fee, which will increase by […]

Nigel Farage has once again claimed he will disappear when Brexit is done – weeks after suggesting he could leave for America. Appearing on ITV, answering questions from news anchor Ranvir Singh, he was asked whether he was in politics just for the ego trip. The Brexit Party vehemently denied this was the case, explaining: […]

The Conservative Party election battlebus has broken down, leaving the party on a housing estate. The Conservative Party election campaign bus temporarily left stranded on a housing estate in Bedford after a technical fault rendered it unsafe to drive. Photograph: Harriet Line/PA Wire. – Credit: PA Journalists and Tory staffers were stuck at the new […]

ANDREW ADONIS on how the questions of accountability and honesty surrounding the candidates to be prime minister have made this the Prince Andrew election. In the past week three candidates have been grilled extensively about their right to lofty status: Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn and Andrew Windsor. All we know so far is who is […]

The Conservative Party accepted £200,000 from the wife of a former Russian finance minister under president Putin, just days after refusing to publish a report into Russian interference in UK elections. Business Insider has reported that the prime minister’s party received £5.6 million in donations in the first week of the campaign, from senior business […]

CLAUDIA PRITCHARD on a new exhibition telling the story of Magnum Photos, the agency which handed photographers control. USA. Baltimore, Maryland. 1964. Martin Luther KING. Photo: ©Leonard Freed / Magnum Photos – Credit: ©Leonard Freed / Magnum Photos On the road with Martin Luther King, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the funeral train of […]

Martin Scorsese’s new film The Irishman features the controversial life and mysterious disappearance of US union boss Jimmy Hoffa. RICHARD LUCK looks back to an earlier cinematic account which will be hard to beat. He had a strange 1992, did Jack Nicholson. Another collaboration with his Five Easy Pieces compadres Bob Rafelson and Carole Eastman […]

What a trip to East Germany in a Trabant taught WILL SELF about fate On September 7, 2016, I parked our hired Trabant car in the car park of the Hotel Kaiserhof, in Eisenach, Thuringia, and clambered out, together with my companions, Michael Shamash and Laurence Grissell. We were on a bizarre road trip: driving […]

The Brexit Party is standing by a candidate whose social media feed has reportedly warned about a Muslim ‘takeover’ of Britain and complained of anti-white ‘racism’. Dionne Cocozza, the party’s candidate in Glasgow North, has now deleted her account, but anti-far right watchdog Hope Not Hate say they had sight of it prior to its […]

Labour has promised to consult on establishing an inquiry into ‘fake news’ if they are elected. The party says that “fake news” has eroded trust in the media and democracy. “We will consult media-sector workers and trade unions to establish an inquiry into the ‘fake news’ undermining trust in media, democracy and public debate, and […]