Interview

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary tells JOHN KAMPFNER, in characteristically forthright style, just what he thinks of the government’s Covid travel rules, the ‘hijacking’ of his aircraft by Belarus and the future of aviation The UK’s travel rules are in chaos. The European Union is starting to open up, but not to Brits. Is ‘delta’, the Indian variant, […]

Prince William’s angry condemnation of the BBC following the revelations about the way Martin Bashir secured his interview with Princess Diana has underlined just how much the future monarch has been shaped by his mother’s death There was a cold, dignified anger in Prince William’s response to the investigation into the BBC’s handling of Martin […]

Danny Huston’s grandfather, his dad and his sister all won Oscars, creating a Hollywood dynasty. No pressure, then.  Movie night when Danny Huston was a kid probably sounds a little different to the ones we’ve all held with our families in lockdown. “There was always a big palaver about getting the projector out,” he says […]

“The working class people I grew up with are voting Tory, and the trendy middle class professionals I work with in London are voting Labour. It’s all topsy-turvy.” I wish this was the warm-up to one of those long, rolling observational gags that have made Russell Kane one of the country’s most successful comedians. Sadly, […]

Son of pop royalty, Roman Kemp has turned tragedy and his own struggles into a window on mental health. There have been plenty of tough times in my life and career, but few quite as stressful – in truth, terrifying – as the fear that your own son is intent on drinking himself to an […]

Anthony Scaramucci, former Trump aide turned foe, tells ALASTAIR CAMPBELL why Joe Biden does not want his predecessor in jail, and why the US might need an entirely new political party to repair the damage done by his former boss. Working for Donald Trump in the first place almost cost Anthony Scaramucci his marriage. Turning on his […]

Former French ambassador to the UK Sylvie Bermann made recent headlines with her very undiplomatic comments about Boris Johnson. She talks to TIM WALKER about how the country changed in her time here, and what she sees for its future. Almost a month after the EU referendum, the newly-appointed foreign secretary Boris Johnson bounded into the opulent residence […]

David Lammy talks to ALASTAIR CAMPBELL about how the Tories are exploiting the so-called ‘culture wars’, Labour’s performance under Keir Starmer, his lonely Christmas… and Jose Mourinho’s ego. Because of the big smile, the big personality, and one of the most infectious laughs in politics, you might assume David Lammy to be on the happier end of the […]

New French film Slalom creates a creepy atmosphere amid the beauty of the Alps and hothouse atmosphere of its resorts. JASON SOLOMONS talks to its director, and comes up with his favourite movies set in the mountains. Snow falls outside, settling softly on the cars and on the muddy green of a little park. It’s an […]

Editor-at-large ALASTAIR CAMPBELL interviews novelist Kate Mosse about her campaigning for feminism, and now for carers, and why she won’t be writing a Brexit or Covid novel just yet. The thing about rights, says historical novelist Kate Mosse, is that it can take years, decades, centuries, to win them, but they can be lost all […]

Party leader Ed Davey talks to MATT WITHERS about this burning issue, why social care is his top priority and the Lib Dems’ controversial Brexit policy. Here’s a pretty non-scientific experiment into the current state of what was until very recently the third force in British politics. Try typing “What is the point of the […]

Former de facto deputy prime minister Sir David Lidington tells MATT WITHERS about how he will continue campaigning for the Conservatives to be a pro-European party. The night before I speak to former de facto deputy prime minister Sir David Lidington, the organisation he chairs changed its name. Goodbye Conservative Group for Europe, hello Conservative […]

Shola Mos-Shogbamimu is a lawyer, activist, political commentator and founder of the publication Women in Leadership. She’s also a mother-of-three (“my kids can’t wait to get back to school because they now prefer their teachers to me”, she tells me down the phone from her lockdowned South London home). And, naturally, a fervent Remainer. We’re […]

Matt Withers talks to the Poet Laureate of Brexit Britain about Europe, lockdown and cultural appropriation in music This time last year Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods, the Poet Laureate of Brexit Britain, was writing the first songs for the band’s sixth studio album. The themes would have been familiar for those who know the […]

As the deadline for Brexit trade talks looms, the man who co-founded a grassroots action group in Hertfordshire against leaving the EU has shared his thoughts on the last four rollercoaster years of politics. On the surface, 49-year-old Richard Scott from Harpenden is like any normal family man who “works hard to put food on the table.” He describes his upbringing […]

TIM WALKER talks to Lib Dem acting leader Ed Davey about the role of politics during the pandemic, and what Keir Starmer’s success could do for his own party’s prospects. Sir Ed Davey is working from home in his south London constituency, but, while his daily commute from his bed to his desk is shorter, […]

Actor and force of nature Frances Barber talks to TIM WALKER about Twitter battles, her tangled relationship with Labour and the hedonistic thought driving her through lockdown. At about this time, Frances Barber would have got back refreshed from a yoga retreat in Sri Lanka and be beginning rehearsals for a new play that Mark […]

Layla Moran talks to TIM WALKER about how parties and political opponents should find ways to work together to tackle the coronavirus. In this brave new world, politicians are gasping for relevance. Holed up in her constituency home in Oxfordshire, Layla Moran, a former teacher, is managing to keep us attentive. More than that, she’s […]

Leading pro-EU campaigner Lord Heseltine talks to TIM WALKER about where the battle was lost, the likely fate of Dominic Cummings and the press barons he holds responsible for Brexit. Few politicians have counted in – and counted out – quite as many prime ministers and their minions as Lord Heseltine, and, so far as […]

John Bercow speaks to TIM WALKER about Remain’s mistake in voting for an early general election, his view of Boris Johnson, and why he thinks it’s wrong to blame Jeremy Corbyn for Brexit. One had imagined John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons during the most bruising and brutal period of post-war political […]

TIM WALKER meets Lib Dem leadership candidate Jo Swinson to talk about the challenges facing liberalism, coalition mistakes and… Brexit Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson. Photograph: Andrew Milligan. – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images I ask Jo Swinson why she should lead the Liberal Democrats and she takes a deep breath and manages to get […]

TIM WALKER speaks to Michael Longhurst about the Donmar Theatre’s revival of Europe – and why he is keen that it sends a very political message. “This country has been sitting on a powderkeg for too long. A spark was bound to catch. He said he’d tighten up on immigration controls. After all… feelings were […]

Liberal Democrat leadership candidate Sir Ed Davey tells TIM WALKER how the party now leads the opposition to Brexit. As secretary of state for energy and climate change and a member of the privy council during the coalition years, Sir Ed Davey sat on the national security council. “We met each week and the heads […]

TIM WALKER interviews Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, as he tries to remain loyal to Labour’s line on Brexit despite the damage it is causing him politically With the highest personal mandate of any politician in the country when he was elected mayor of London three years ago, Sadiq Khan is undeniably a rock […]

Tim Walker talks to the former attorney general who is now eloquently making the case for a People’s Vote. If Boris Johnson were to finally succeed Theresa May as prime minister, and – in the interests of unifying the Conservative Party – he decided to offer Dominic Grieve a place in his cabinet, the answer […]

With the Liberal Democrat conference opening in Brighton this weekend, Layla Moran talks to Tim Walker about Brexit, Vince Cable’s proposals for the party – and those rumours she’s about to succeed him. Layla Moran, the 35-year-old Lib Dem MP touted as the next leader of her party, was relaxed to the point of insouciance […]

TIM WALKER talks to actor and campaigner Sir Patrick Stewart about politics, Star Trek and a very spiky encounter with the Labour leader Ever since he first stood with a placard bearing the name of his local Labour candidate in Mirfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire in the 1945 general election – at the […]

The Labour MP tells Tim Walker that voters won’t forgive politicians who put party politics before the national interest. If there is one individual in Westminster who has not been transfixed by the latest dramatic episode in the Brexit soap opera – David Davis, Boris Johnson and Steve Baker being dramatically written out of the […]

The fearless Tory MP says the Foreign Secretary has lost all credibility writes TIM WALKER It exasperates Anna Soubry that Theresa May has found it necessary to invite her cabinet to Chequers this week to try to bang some heads together about how exactly Britain should go about exiting the European Union. ‘We had the […]

Free from the pressures that are silencing other MPs, the Conservative Party’s great europhile tells TIM WALKER about his meeting with Theresa May and why this is no time for despair. There would be no messing about if Ken Clarke were prime minister. Boris Johnson would have been sacked by now and the rest of […]

Lib Dem elder statesman Menzies Campbell talks about the polarised nature of modern politics. In common with a great many others, ‘Ming’ Campbell was impressed with the speech that Theresa May delivered from the steps of Downing Street when, almost two years ago, she became Prime Minister. ‘She made it clear how much she wanted […]

Tory grandee Lord Heseltine is not afraid to think, and say, the unthinkable when it comes to Brexit – even if it rattles his party’s top brass. TIM WALKER speaks to one of British politics’ biggest beasts In the company boardrooms, on the streets of the deprived inner-cities and addressing the Tory faithful as their […]