News and Opinion

DUP MPs who prop up Theresa May’s government are preparing to vote against her budget if the prime minister breaks their Brexit red lines. The radical move is one of the options being considered by the DUP if attempts to nail down a deal with Brussels include any proposals that would leave Northern Ireland being […]

Brexit is an “intractable” problem which threatens to undermine America’s role as a major player in Europe’s security, former US vice president Joe Biden has said. Biden, who served as deputy to Barack Obama during his two terms in the White House, told an event in London that the special relationship between the UK and […]

Staunch Europhile Ken Clarke outlined some simple maths to the prime minister to highlight the fact Remainers make up the majority of the Commons. During the weekly prime minister’s questions he urged Theresa May not to buckle under increasing pressure from Leavers to harden Brexit. Too both cheers and catcalls the Tory grandee attacked both […]

Your holiday flights to Europe could be grounded in the event of an “unfriendly” Brexit, the head of the Whitehall spending watchdog has warned. Sir Amyas Morse, the head of the National Audit Office, said many existing arrangements with the EU would require “goodwill” on both sides if they were to continue if Britain leaves […]

‘This is the end …’ hinted Theresa May while talking about austerity during her conference speech (once she had stopped dancing around the stage). But is it? Well, ‘probably not’ most people in the know will tell you. And for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn her claims were an open goal. Corbyn took austerity as a […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY examines the life of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, August 30, 1958 – October 7, 2006 On the day she died Anna Politkovskaya, for once, had domestic matters on her mind. She was still coming to terms with the sudden death a fortnight earlier of her father Stefan, who had collapsed from a heart […]

U2 rocker Bono has called on artists to celebrate the “romance” of Europe at a time when the value of the EU has come under question. Visiting the European Parliament in Brussels, the singer hailed the European institutions as both a “brain… working to improve the lives of Europeans” and a “loudly beating heart” bringing […]

A cabinet minister has predicted negotiations with the European Union will go to the ‘last minute’ as he urged people to get behind the embattled PM. Health secretary Matt Hancock backed Theresa May to secure a good deal for the UK but added he believed talks would go down to the wire. The prediction will […]

Global markets could be plunged into chaos because of Brexit, according to the International Monetary Fund. The IMF has included Brexit among key risks to the stability of the global economy in a comprehensive new report. The organisation has urged financial institutions to ‘step up their preparations for a post-Brexit landscape’ and include measures for […]

The man behind the magnificent 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony has laughed off the idea he might help with Theresa May’s Festival of Brexit Britain. Danny Boyle was speaking to Channel 4 News when he was described as the ‘national curator of what it means to be British’ when he was asked whether or not […]

Britain is expected to lose around 5,000 City jobs by Brexit Day and could see its £72bn in annual taxes from the sector come under threat, the government has admitted. Treasury minister John Glen told a House of Lords committee that he backed a previous prediction by the Bank of England that around 5,000 financial […]

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has demanded the government does not plunge the UK into a ‘vague or blind Brexit’. During a heated exchange in the House of Commons, Sir Keir told Brexit secretary Dominic Raab: ‘No government has the right to plunge the country into chaos as a result of its own failure. […]

Government departments are scrambling to employ crisis experts as the chances of the UK crashing out of the European Union increase. Currently the Ministry of Housing wants three ‘resilience advisers’ who would ‘provide support to the local resilience community to develop, test and exercise plans for the mitigation of any disruption following our exit from […]

David Davis has fuelled the growing rebellion against Theresa May by sending a letter to all Tory MPs urging them to ‘chuck Chequers’. DD letter – Credit: Archant The former Brexit secretary warns of ‘dire’ consequences for the Conservatives at the next general election if May’s plan is not thrown out. Davis said a Chequers […]

The BBC has defended the political balance of Question Time panels after it was revealed that all MEPs to appear on the show in the past 5 years have been anti-EU. pic.twitter.com/tyL1EEdRqi— JP Cherrington #FBPE (@JPCherr) October 7, 2018 According to a social media post from JP Cherrington, a majority of the Members of European […]

A university has won a year-long fight sparked after a Conservative MP and leading Brexiteer wrote to universities across the UK asking for the names of lecturers teaching courses on Brexit and the content of their lessons. The University of Worcester won its fight which came after Chris Heaton-Harris, a then government whip and member […]

The former minister who is leading the attack on Theresa May’s Chequers plan has hit out at Jean-Claude Juncker for ‘mocking’ the PM. "Being seen to mock a prime minister is not where we should be" @SteveBakerHW on Juncker dancing #PoliticsLive https://t.co/VAKGouKjwN pic.twitter.com/Xcy0Ujbd2t— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) October 9, 2018 Hypocrite Steve Baker rushed to May’s […]

A London businessman who has been asked by a local council to remove a 100-foot ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ sign above his premises has stepped up his fight. Charlie Mullins, who owns Pimlico Plumbers, had previously accused Lambeth council of trying to stifle freedom of speech when it contacted him asking to remove the sign above […]

Hardcore Brexiteers have vowed they will not budge on the prime minister’s Chequers plan. Former minister Steve Baker – who has released a series of bizarre videos urging MPs to ‘chuck Chequers’ while standing in a field – said as many as 80 Conservatives would be prepared to oppose Theresa May if her deal with […]

Hillary Clinton says she cannot understand why the press and political establishment are ‘so reluctant to call out what the Russians have been doing’. The former US first lady, who lost the race for the White House to Donald Trump in 2016, said democracy was now ‘under siege’ and also said it is ‘troubling’ to […]

Richard Luck champions the greatest explorer of the modern age – Reinhold Messner –​ and explores the tragedy which has helped drive him in his achievements King Of The Mountains Italy’s Reinhold Messner has scaled the world’s highest peaks, crossed Antarctica and the Gobi Desert and lost six toes in the process. Richard Luck champions […]

The ‘back-to-school’ effect failed to deliver for retailers in September as consumer confidence took a knock in the face of heightened Brexit uncertainty. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG sales monitor showed that retail sales fell by 0.2% on a like-for-like basis compared to the same month in 2017. This compares to […]

The most toxic of all arguments against a vote on a final say is the claim it would lead to violence, says MIC WRIGHT. It took less than four months after the Brexit referendum for Nigel Farage to start issuing warnings of possible political violence in the event of what he calls ‘Brexit betrayal’ but […]

Brexiteer Michael Gove’s latest idea to allow us to sift through rubbish tips has been mocked as another example of just how bad things could get after Brexit. Michael Gove appears in the Times newspaper – Credit: Archant The environment minister has proposed that councils across the country open up waste sites so that we […]

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker appeared to mock Theresa May when he performed a little dance while preparing to give a speech in Brussels. May’s dancing again became a talking point at conference when she shimmied on stage for her big keynote speech to the tune of Abba’s Dancing Queen. And a grinning Jean-Claude Juncker […]

A retired offshore engineer has succinctly taken down both Boris Johnson’s Irish bridge proposal and his attempts to become prime minister in just four paragraphs. Writing in the Sunday Times letters pages, James Duncan from Edinburgh points out the problems with building a bridge between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. As well as pointing out […]

Before the Britpop steamroller removed it, the charts were filled with subtlety. SOPHIA DEBOICK looks back on a year of complexity Grunge seemed to be taking over the world as 1992 rolled into 1993. As Nirvana released In Utero in September and recorded their MTV Unplugged concert in November, their ascent continued unchecked, while Pearl […]

Musical stars including Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora and Damon Albarn have warned Brexit would put the country in a ‘self-built cultural jail’. In a letter, orchestrated by Bob Geldof and addressed to prime minister Theresa May, the musicians claim Britain’s departure from the EU threatens the ‘vast voice’ of the £4.4 billion industry which ‘dominates’ […]

These dog owners had a simple message for politicians – Brexit is ‘barking’ mad and it’s time to ‘paws’ it forever. Hundreds attended Sunday’s ‘Wooferendum Dog March’ event in central London to call for a People’s Vote on Brexit including actor Peter Egan, Alastair Campbell, and Stella Creasy MP. Mr Egan, who has five rescue […]

The People’s Vote campaign has launched a series of new billboards across the country calling for a final say on the Brexit deal. The signs will be a prominent reminder of the broken Leave promises and the Brexiteers that ran away when the vote was won. Speaking at the launch For Our Future’s Sake co-founder […]

The royal family is a rock – and it has some pretty unsavoury things beneath it. But it is changing and the Duchess of Sussex is helping achieve that Walking through the dark, the way illuminated by discreet Klieg lighting and torches on stands, the smell of fresh flowers in the air and the sound […]

Brexit ultras Jacob Rees-Mogg and Iain Duncan Smith have signalled they could smudge some of their redlines in a bid to ‘chuck Chequers’. The prominent Brexiteers told the Sunday Telegraph they were ready to compromise in order to achieve a Canada-style free trade deal with Brussels and kill off Theresa May’s Chequers proposal. The plan […]