British Politics

Pro-Brexit newspaper the Daily Express has been criticised for its front cover claiming that the EU has not understood its demands. In a sorry-sounding front page, the Leave-backing newspaper claims: “All we ever wanted was our freedom!” The headline comes as prime minister Boris Johnson told cabinet ministers to prepare for no-deal Brexit as talks with […]

A minister has said he “doesn’t accept” Tesco’s prediction that Brexit will drive food prices up by five percent. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden said consumers were better of trusting the environment minister than Tesco when it came to food price predictions brought on by Brexit. Dowden joins a list of cabinet ministers who are denying that […]

The government’s Test and Trace service has finally hit its contact tracing target for the first time since May. Tracers were finally able to exceed the 80% target of close contact reached which experts say is needed to make the system effective. The percentage of “close contacts” of people with Covid-19 in England reached 85.7pc for the week ending December […]

A BBC presenter has been praised for his two-and-a-half minute explainer of Brexit – in a clip that some viewers said demonstrates why it “fundamentally won’t work”. Ros Atkins, who hosts Outside Source, explained how ideological differences between Britain and the EU would make a trade deal between the two sides near impossible to achieve. Atkins posted […]

The prime minister’s audience with the Queen has been postponed this week to allow him to focus on the post-Brexit trade deal talks. Boris Johnson usually telephones the monarch each Wednesday evening to update her on government matters, but there was no record of the audience in the Court Circular. Buckingham Palace said the Queen […]

Michael Gove has been told to “correct the record” after misleading statements made about Brexit. Gove had claimed that key health and education benefits will be saved “for a while” – even if there is no deal – while interviewed by the Today programme. There is currently no guarantee the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or Erasmus will […]

A Conservative MP has clashed with a BBC presenter after she brought up a comment by the prime minister suggesting that chances a no-deal Brexit were “absolutely zero”. North Hertfordshire MP Bim Afolami accused Jo Coburn, who hosts Politics Live, of getting her facts wrong in relation to Boris Johnson’s remark. Johnson had said during last year’s […]

A former treasurer of the Conservative Party has taken his seat in the House of Lords. Michael Spencer, who is chairman of the right-leaning think tank the Centre for Policy Studies, was nominated to the unelected house by Boris Johnson. The 65-year-old Oxford graduate was among the intake of new peers to the upper house, […]

A radio presenter who supports Britain remaining in the EU has issued Remainers with a stark warning against Brexit “gloating”. James O’Brien said it was “stupid” of Remainers to celebrate something that was bound to hurt them. Speaking about an FT columnist’s tweet advising against gloating, O’Brien said: “There are two things to say about that. Number one: […]

In recent days Conservative ministers have scrambled to insist that Boris Johnson’s “oven-ready” Brexit deal pledge at the election only related to the Withdrawal Agreement. But one year ago, days before the general election, the then chief secretary to the Treasury claimed there was no need for no-deal Brexit planning because “we have got this […]

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has dismissed a warning from Tesco chairman John Allan that Brexit could result in food shortages and price rises, saying he is “not concerned” by their claims. The chairman warned that failure to reach a deal with the European Union could see shoppers turning to buying UK-produced items when imported goods jump […]

A political commentator has brilliantly summed up the frustrations Remainers have with Brexit using an age-old analogy. The New Statesman‘s Philip Collins said Brexiteers compared the concerns of Remainers to “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” having completely ignored the moral of the story. In the fable, which dates back to the Middle Ages, a young shepherd boy repeatedly trick nearby villagers into thinking […]

Is it time to take a leaf out of Nigel Farage’s book to force Rejoin on to the political agenda? Ian Dunt is right (“Time for this eerie silence to end”, TNE #222) that no party is currently advocating rejoining the EU. This puts those of us who campaigned for four years, or more, to […]

MITCH BENN on the annual controversy over Fairytale of New York. One of my favourite things about the Christmas season is the way that new Yuletide traditions are always evolving and emerging to take their place alongside the more ‘time-honoured’ ones. A recent addition to the canon of Christmas customs is the online game Whamageddon; as […]

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has been urged to drop the government’s plan for a Festival of Brexit Britain in 2022. More than 600 cultural workers have signed a joint letter calling for the money to be better spent following the coronavirus pandemic. It reads: “Amidst a background of culture devastation, where thousands have lost their […]

Brexit trade talks could continue beyond the newly-agreed Sunday deadline, foreign secretary Dominic Raab has hinted. Raab was reticent to confirm Sunday’s deadline as a final cut-off, saying that “you can never say never” with EU negotiations. His comment came as Boris Johnson and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen agreed to scrap Thursday’s deadline in favour of […]

Liz Truss has claimed that a trade deal with Vietnam and Singapore is “further proof” that Britain can “succeed” after Brexit. London and Hanoi are expected to sign a rollover agreement at the end of the week, the Vietnamese ministry said in a statement. International trade secretary Truss said the deal will eliminate tariffs on machinery […]

A majority of Britons face being barred from visiting the European Union from January 1 2021 when pandemic safety rules that allow freedom of movement within the bloc stop applying to the UK. The European Commission has said that the end of the Brexit transition period will mean that the UK will be subject to […]

Boris Johnson has arrived for last-ditch talks in Brussels with the European Commission’s top official aimed at breaking the deadlock in trade deal negotiations. The prime minister and Ursula von der Leyen will have dinner with their chief negotiators Michel Barnier and Lord Frost as they race against the clock to secure an agreement. Johnson […]

DONALD MACINTYRE on the squealing and dealing from Boris Johnson’s government over Brexit. We’ve been here before, of course. It was on March 13, 2003, that the cabinet were told “the message that must go out…[is] that we pin the blame on France for its isolated refusal to agree.” This was three days after Jacques […]

A former EU diplomat has described Boris Johnson’s last-minute meeting in Brussels as ‘just for show’, claiming the prime minister was adamant about pursuing a no-deal Brexit. Sir Ivan Rogers, the former UK ambassador to the EU, said Johnson had intervened in Brexit talks too late to yield a positive result. Rogers said officials in Brussels believe […]

A Brexiteer MP in the House of Commons has been accused of treating Britain’s EU partners with “patronising contempt” by a Maltese MEP after he claimed Britain was nothing like her country. Daniel Kawczynski took to Twitter to complain about the EU’s handling of Brexit talks. He said: “Mistake EU making is they are treating us as if we […]

Boris Johnson has been told he has “no mandate” for a no-deal Brexit after a petition was handed in urging him to strike a deal with the EU. More than 100,000 people signed the petition organised by European Movement UK, a grass-roots campaign group focused on Britain’s relationship with Brussels. Signatories claimed that “a damaging No Deal […]

Boris Johnson has hinted Scotland could be offered a second independence referendum in the ‘future’ but warned that citizens would end up voting to stay in the union. The prime minister said the SNP’s “sheer incoherence” would see union supporters win a future referendum. Johnson’s response came after Glasgow MP David Linden had asked why polls have […]

Michael Gove has been compared to Bart Simpson for his refusal to accept responsibility for the “chaos” caused by Brexit. But instead the Cabinet Office minister compared himself to Groundskeeper Willie – the fictional Scottish school janitor – only to be told that Willie declared his support for Scottish independence at the 2014 referendum. SNP MP Owen […]

Sir Keir Starmer has said that Labour will act “in the national interest” on any deal that Boris Johnson brings back from the EU. The Labour leader urged the prime minister to deliver the deal he promised, claimed his “incompetence has held Britain back” and pleaded for “this charade” to end and “allow the country to […]

A grammar school in Kent will close for two days after Christmas over fears Brexit will cause debilitating traffic jams. Maidstone Grammar School (MGS) will instead teach pupils virtually between January 4 and January 5. The all boys secondary school is located a mile away from the M20 , which is expected to rammed with lorries […]

Boris Johnson’s detailed grasp of geography is, like his detailed grasp of, well, pretty much everything, is at best rudimentary. So it fell a little flat today as he attempted to mock Keir Starmer about where he lived. Starmer is self-isolating after a member of his staff tested positive for coronavirus, forcing him to appear […]

Labour MP Chris Bryant has been rebuked by the House of Commons speaker after taking exception to apparent “disgraceful” behaviour while Boris Johnson spoke at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle called out the Labour former minister for alleged “heckling” in the middle of Johnson’s answer. It saw Bryant storm out of his seat at PMQs in […]

Sir Keir Starmer has mocked Boris Johnson’s “Get Brexit Done” slogan while taking a dig at trade talks during this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Sir Keir took the opportunity to question the prime minister on Brexit negotiations via teleconference after having been forced to self-isolate. He said: “12 months ago, he told the British people […]

Ireland’s deputy leader said he believes Boris Johnson would be willing to make concessions to get a post-Brexit trade deal, claiming his politics is closer to the “liberal” view he took as mayor of London. Leo Varadkar said the European Union and the UK have “more to gain and more to salvage” from an agreement […]

Piers Morgan has told Michael Gove his attempt to deny No 10 had pursued a policy of herd immunity “would not survive” a public inquiry. Michael Gove sought to downplay the claims brought forward by senior SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) scientist Sir Patrick Vallance. The cabinet minister, who chairs the government’s Covid committee, told Good Morning Britain England’s […]