News and Opinion

Jeremy Corbyn is said to be ‘spooked’ by the new prime minister that party insiders fear he could u-turn on his latest u-turn on a People’s Vote in a snap general election. The Mail on Sunday reports that the prospect of a general election in the autumn has Labour panicking about the party’s position on […]

The Tory party chairman has insisted the Conservatives are not going to ‘initiate’ a general election, amid speculation Boris Johnson will call for a vote to deliver Brexit. The prime minister was reported to be plotting for an election to boost his diminishing ranks in parliament and increase his chances of getting a deal past […]

Boris Johnson has again pledged £350 million a week for the NHS, and said he is ‘determined to deliver’ the promises of the Brexit referendum campaign. The prime minister has been accused of lying about the claims on the side of the bus that both we send £350 milion a week to the European Union, […]

The new communities secretary’s funding pledge to help councils step up Brexit preparations has been branded an ‘insult’. Robert Jenrick committed £20 million to be shared between all 353 English councils while calling for them to appoint a Brexit lead to ensure they are ready to leave by the Halloween deadline. But, despite the sum […]

A pro-Brexit father-of-three who left voicemails containing death threats for serving Members of Parliament has been jailed. Robert Vidler, 64, hurled expletives and threatened violence in calls to the offices of Labour and Conservative MPs in January this year, a court heard. A trial at City of London Magistrates’ Court was told that voicemails were […]

Dominic Raab has been accused of ‘misleading the public’ over no-deal Brexit and bringing the post of foreign secretary ‘into disrepute’. Former Foreign Office minister Ben Bradshaw has written to the foreign secretary calling on him to apologise for remarks on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this week. He said Raab had claimed the prospect […]

Readers give their initial reaction to the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election result – and have plenty of raise for the Remain pact. Well done, so encouraging to see the numbers. HUGE thank you to the Remain candidates who stood down so as not to split the vote. This victory is a tribute to their belief […]

The Official Monster Raving Loony Party managed to increase its vote share at the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election- beating UKIP in the proccess. Monster Raving Loony party candidate Lady Lily The Pink with supporters. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA Wire. – Credit: PA While all eyes were on the top of the polls where the Liberal Democrats […]

Anti-Brexit campaigners have welcomed the anti-Brexit party pacts that helped ensure the Liberal Democrats defeated the Conservative in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. It saw Plaid Cymru and the Green Party step aside to support Lib Dem candidate Jane Dodds, while Change UK and other pro-EU parties also did not contest. Naomi Smith from the […]

Boris Johnson has failed his first electoral test as voters backed the Liberal Democrats in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. Lib Dem candidate Jane Dodds campaigning in Brecon and Radnorshire. Photograph: Twitter. – Credit: Archant The Liberal Democrats won the mid-Wales constituency by a margin of 1,425, swinging the vote nearly 12% from the Tories. […]

Former Irish ambassador to the UK BOBBY McDONAGH has some very undiplomatic words to say about Britain’s new prime minister. Some years ago I rented an apartment in Roccatederighi, a small hill town in Tuscany. Unfortunately, the planned week of family peace and quiet coincided with the town’s annual medieval festival. If your thing is […]

Young anti-Brexit campaigners from Our Future Our Choice have delivered a letter to Boris Johnson telling the new prime minister that they reject his lies, his values, and his Brexit. https://twitter.com/OFOCBrexit/status/1157250072360493057 Femi Oluwole from Our Future, Our Choice penned the letter to Boris Johnson which warned: “You are building a future that the young people […]

PR experts have warned that the government’s new iniaitive to advertise a no-deal Brexit might have come too late to have an impact in October. Approximately £100 million will be spent in the coming months to advise the public and businesses on an October 31st departure from the EU. But one specialist fears there is […]

A new poll has found that almost three-quarters of Britons do not expect a Brexit deal to be agreed between the UK and EU by October 31st. The Ipsos Mori poll found that 74% of Britons do not think the UK and the EU will be able to agree by the deadline currently set. Just […]

WILL SELF on the similarities between legalised marijuana culture and Brexit culture. A sign points the way to to a cannabis shop. Picture: Mark Rightmire/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images – Credit: MediaNews Group via Getty Images “What do you make,” asked my film agent conversationally, ‘of our legalized marijuana culture?’ It was an […]

The boss of JD Wetherspoon has insisted that there will be no economic hit with Brexit – despite making the comments in the same week that the pound hit a two-year low. https://twitter.com/talkRADIO/status/1156644447112716288 The pub chain owner was asked about the impact of Brexit by Alastair Stewart on talkRADIO in his capacity as a businessman. […]

On the afternoon of August 1, 1943, Lydia Litvyak was heading back to the Soviet airbase at Krasnyi Luch in south-eastern Ukraine after a sortie escorting a squad ground attack planes taking part in the vicious fighting on the Eastern Front. It was her fourth mission of the day and the 268th combat flight of […]

PETER TRUDGILL explains why some old childhood favourites no longer seem to rhyme. Many of us remember from our childhood the well-known nursery rhyme which goes: “Jack and Jill/Went up the hill/To fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down/And broke his crown/ And Jill came tumbling after.” Jill rhymes with hill, and down rhymes […]

Even when staging a musical like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! there’s a perilously thin dividing line between magnificence and naffness says TIM WALKER. A lot of the problem is that there can be few, if any, punters who haven’t now heard all of the big numbers in a sturdy old classic like this at least […]

SOPHIA DEBOICK kicks off a new feature, looking at the musical history of a different city each week. First an examination of Berlin’s remarkably creative heritage, from Dietrich to Depeche Mode, with many in between. Depeche Mode, group portrait, Berlin, July 1984, L-R Martin Gore, Dave Gahan, Alan Wilder, Andrew Fletcher. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty […]

JOE WALSH on how the tragic murders of rural South Africans are being exploited by global extremists. Leader of the conservative Afrikaner Freedom Front Pieter Groenewald joins newly elected Members of Parliament as they are sworn in for the 6th Democratic Parliament on May 22, 2019, in Cape Town. Picture: RODGER BOSCH/AFP/Getty Images – Credit: […]

Brex Factor looks at the pro-Leave fundraising campaign chaired by former Ronald Reagan staffer Peggy Grande. Mike Parry. Picture: Twitter – Credit: Archant On the day Boris Johnson became prime minister, Nigel Farage had his eyes on a different prize. As the unelected PM moved into Downing Street, the Brexit Party’s unelected leader was in […]

It took him longer to form a government – six days – than anyone else since the war, because his no-deal loyalty pledge reduced the field even among ambitious Tory MPs and peers, says ANDREW ADONIS. Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid, Works and Pensions Secretary […]

A clock that costs at least £500 has been installed at Downing Street, counting down to the date the UK is intended to leave the European Union. A package containing a digital countdown clock is carried in to 10 Downing Street in London. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA Wire. – Credit: PA The clock will be displayed […]

Indisputable certainty no longer exists in politics. Lee McIntyre examines how reaction to the Mueller probe shows how partisan responses took ownership of the facts. Listening to former special counsel Robert Mueller’s keenly-anticipated testimony to Congress, America heard a duel over the facts. Not what the facts imply, not our response to them, but what […]

Neither Akiro Kurosawa’s masterpiece Seven Samurai, nor the greatest remake ever made and not based on it, the Magnificent Seven, are about Wisconsin, says BONNIE GREER. Ivanka Trump joins the US president at the G20 meeting of world leaders. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images The plot of both films is […]

From commemorative Brexit stamps to how Princess Diana would have voted on Brexit. How well do you remember these stories? We have pulled together a quiz of ten questions which will test your knowledge of the irreverent news surrounding Brexit from the past three years. How much do you remember?

European citizens in the UK who claim they were denied a vote in the recent elections have not given up their fight. Lawyer John Halford explains what happens next. Boris Johnson at Conservative party conference. Pictue: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images – Credit: Getty Images But does this really matter now? We have a new prime minister […]

MEP DAMIAN BOESELAGER voted against new European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen because he believes her election sends the wrong message. At a time when national parliaments across Europe are besieged by populists, and when one of the main arguments of the UK Brexit Party is that the European project lacks democratic accountability, the […]

The opportunity now facing the Lib Dems is immense, says JOHN KAMPFNER. But the challenge is far more complex than it might first appear. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images. – Credit: Getty Images Rarely has there been a more propitious time to become leader of a liberal party. The space normally […]

An obedient press and a parliamentary recess have given Boris Johnson a free hand. LIZ GERARD is very, very worried. New customs posts under construction at Dublin Port in preparation for a no-deal Brexit. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images I’m scared. First I was scared of Brexit. Then I was scared […]

More than £2 billion has been set aside to prepare for a no-deal Brexit, which has been branded a ‘appalling waste of taxpayers’ cash’. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid announced that the funding includes £1.1 billion for departments and the devolved administrations to spend immediately, with a further £1 billion in reserve. Javid said […]