News and Opinion

Boris Johnson has been accused in the Lords of doing “immense damage” to Britain’s reputation abroad with his tendency to “speak first and think afterwards”. In a rare personal attack at question time, Labour’s Lord Soley said the foreign secretary had a “bad reputation” for it at home and overseas. Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad […]

In a major climbdown on its flagship Brexit bill, the government has given in to rebels over greater oversight of ministers’ powers. An amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill tabled by the cross-party Commons Procedure Committee will stop ministers simply signing changes into law through so-called Henry VIII powers. Instead a new “sifting committee” of […]

The sanguine British used to shrug off foreign criticism. Not any more. SUNA ERDEM on how we became a hypersensitive nation. For seasoned UK-watchers abroad, this has always been a quirky country of pragmatists who disdained great ideologies feted elsewhere. Brits kept calm, carried on, and got things done while the world around them argued […]

The collapse of the Brexit talks exposed the government’s atrocious diplomacy – but it was far from its only failure in this field, says former diplomat PAUL KNOTT Theresa May’s failure to close the deal on the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU in Brussels was just the latest episode in her government’s diplomatically […]

David Davis has sought to address concerns about his performance as Brexit secretary by saying he does not have to be very clever to do the job. He told LBC radio: “What’s the requirement of my job? I don’t have to be very clever, I don’t have to know that much.” But he insisted “I […]

The option of staying in the single market must be kept on the table, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said, as he called for Labour to support his efforts to rewrite the Government’s Brexit Bill. Sir Vince said Jeremy Corbyn’s party had benefited from the support of pro-European Union young voters at the general […]

ANGELA JAMESON on the mercurial currency that adds a whole new level to high-risk investment As Brexit stumbles on, another ‘B’ word was occupying business minds this week. Like Northern Rock, Railtrack and Royal Bank of Scotland, Bitcoin is one of those rare business stories breaking through to the mainstream. It is an investment created […]

Labour would try to stay in a “reformed single market” if it was conducting Brexit negotiations, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said. He said he stood by his assertion that remaining inside the single market under current rules, which include accepting free movement of EU citizens, would not respect the Brexit referendum result. But he […]

Theresa May believes EU negotiations are ‘not about a hard or soft Brexit’. The Prime Minister is expected to make the claims during a statement to the House of Commons on progress made last week. May’s words are a clear attempt to stop hardliners in her Cabinet sparking a civil war after rows erupted over […]

London and Dublin have clashed over whether the Brexit agreement intended to trigger trade talks is legally binding or not. The dispute was sparked when Brexit Secretary David Davis insisted it was much more a statement of intent than ‘legally enforceable’. The Irish government responded strongly, stating the deal was ‘binding’ and it would hold […]

Sir Keir Starmer wants Britain to ‘stay aligned’ to the European Union after Brexit. Sir Keir Starmer wants Britain to ‘stay aligned’ to the European Union after Brexit. The Shadow Brexit Secretary added that there may have to be payments and easy movement of people in order to retain the benefits of the single market […]

A Government truce over the last-gasp EU deal is unravelling ahead of a crunch meeting of the Brexit war cabinet. Michael Gove and Boris Johnson are set to demand the UK does not move away from the hard Brexit they are demanding. And the pair have won a crucial ally in new Defence Secretary Gavin […]

Editor-at-Large Alastair Campbell on economic bandwidth, Corbyn’s honesty and Donald’s wellbeing There is another B word that keeps popping up whenever the shortcomings of B for Brexit are highlighted. B for Bandwidth. We heard it from Alan Milburn as he explained why he was stepping down from his work heading the Social Mobility Commission. Dealing […]

The time has come for the EU to use its influence to drive reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah and restore hope in the Palestinian territory Visiting Israel earlier this year, the German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel was confronted with an unpalatable choice. Gabriel – in contrast to British minister Priti Patel on her now-notorious trip […]

Brexiteer Michael Gove has broken rank to issue a thinly-veiled threat to the Prime Minister. Just a day after both wings of the Conservative Party praised Theresa May for getting Brexit talks over the line at the 11th hour, Gove has warned voters will be able to force changes to any withdrawal deal at the […]

Berlin was once the hometown-that-never-was, but what do Germany and its capital represent now? Our driver was called Mehmet H. He performed what he described as a ‘Turkish tactic’ and got us through the Berlin traffic faster than we would have done otherwise. On the way to the Checkpoint Charlie area, he pointed out the […]

Now that the European Commission has agreed that “sufficient progress” has been made on the UK’s EU withdrawal deal, what happens next? December 11 Theresa May expected to deliver a statement to the House of Commons. December 13 European Parliament debates and votes on the joint report drawn up by negotiators for the UK and […]

Theresa May grabbed only “a couple of hours” of sleep as she raced against the clock to get agreement on the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU last night. The prime minister and close colleagues, including Brexit secretary David Davis and chief of staff Gavin Barwell, worked late into the night, as the Number […]

Here are the key points of the joint report agreed between the UK and EU on the expected content of Britain’s withdrawal agreement. Citizens’ rights Reciprocal protection for EU citizens in the UK and Britons living in the remaining 27 member-states who are resident at the time of the UK’s withdrawal, along with their family […]

In his debut column JAMES BALL explores the dangers of a soft Brexit and the implications for Remainers Eighteen months on from the Brexit vote, you could be forgiven for believing the UK might be limping towards a finishing line over leaving the EU. Getting to this point has required a series of humiliating concessions […]

The New European editor on why today’s “breakthrough” will trigger a very public cabinet implosion The Brexit can has been kicked down the road. But not far. ‘In the absence of agreed solutions, the UK will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union,’ reads Article 49 of the […]

MICHAEL WHITE on a week of confusion, bitterness and a very dangerous way to halt Brexit The very idea of the Democratic Unionist Party’s tribal leaders insisting on ‘regulatory alignment’ with the rest of the sort-of-still-United Kingdom ought to be enough to make an Irish cat laugh. But no one in Brussels on Monday afternoon […]

Brexit negotiations will move on to trade talks after the European Commission agreed ‘sufficient progress’ had been made. The DUP finally gave the green light after changes were made to the wording of the proposals over the Irish border. Leader Arlene Foster said she had been ‘negotiating directly with the Prime Minister’ into the early […]

STEVE ANGLESEY counts down the worst Brexiteers of the week 10. LIAM FOX The International Trade Secretary delivered a tantalising hint of the amazing deals to come post-Brexit when he visited a bassoon shop in Newport. No doubt delighted to meet some other expensive wind instruments, Fox tweeted that Double Reed was an ‘internationally respected […]

GQ editor DYLAN JONES made Jeremy Corbyn his most recent cover star and discovered a man who is part rock star, part grandpa Jeremy Corbyn is a mass of contradictions, a man who has the aura of a rock star when he’s on stage, and who can be a humble, almost ghostly figure in person. […]

RICHARD PORRITT on the week’s big stories, including a big victory in Austria, the German foreign minister on the offensive and the prince of letters After all that fuss about Brexit impact statements, it appears they never really existed in any meaningful sense anyway. To widespread shock, David Davis admitted to a parliamentary committee on […]

Just 16 MPs and peers have read the government’s Brexit analysis papers, Andrea Leadsom claimed today. The Commons Leader, Brexiteer and brief candidate for the Tory leadership bemoaned the opposition for causing “enormous headlines and publicity” before adding “only 16 members across both Houses” had viewed them. A reading room has been established to allow […]

Jobs will be moved out of Britain unless Theresa May secures progress in Brexit negotiations at next week’s summit of EU leaders, the CBI warns tonight. The business lobbying group will say more than half (60%) of firms with Brexit contingency plans will activate them by Easter, meaning jobs leaving the UK unless the December […]

Commons speaker John Bercow has apologised after a slip of the tongue saw him dub a pro-Remain Labour MP the “member for Brexeter”. Mr Bercow’s blunder came in relation to Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw, as the speaker answered a series of points of order from MPs over Brexit. Having responded to five points of order, […]

Theresa May has been warned no Brexit deal is “reckless and dangerous”, as “utterly ruthless” dissident republicans would target border officials. Independent MP Lady Hermon (North Down) said a hard border would inevitably exist between Northern Ireland and the Republic if the UK and EU failed to agree a deal. She said the UK government […]

Martin Amis doesn’t need to look far to find out what went wrong with the world. He’s one of the centrists who have killed liberalism. It must be confusing being Martin Amis. To be presented in the mirror every morning with what looks like a discarded exhibit from Madam Tussaud’s Rotting Cadaver Gallery, and know […]

A Brexit deal giving special status to Northern Ireland could have put the entire future of the UK in jeopardy, the Scottish Conservative leader has claimed. Ruth Davidson said such a set-up could have “unravelled the entire United Kingdom”, telling how she had told the prime minister the 13 Scottish Tory MPs at Westminster would […]