British Politics

As the election results came in from New Zealand I was lucky enough to be able to celebrate with a small (fewer than six!) group of Kiwis, close friends and former colleagues of victorious Jacinda Ardern. With so much bad news around, it was great to be able to enjoy a stunning Labour victory; a […]

A Tory minister has been labelled “shameful” after he defended a government memo attacking Marcus Rashford’s call for free school meals. A leaked memo has shown that Tory MPs are being ask to shift the blame for a failed vote to extend free school meals to children during the holidays onto Labour. The statement said MPs should […]

Lockdown is, for almost everybody, a new phenomenon that has created feelings of anxiety about a range of issues, particularly how to deal with the threat of the virus itself. Covid-19 is an invisible threat from which the best protection appears to be to hide – perhaps in the hope that it will go away.  […]

The government has come under heavy fire after more than 300 Tory MPs voted against extending free meals for hungry kids over the school holidays. The Tories voted down a Labour motion 322 votes to 261 that would have seen children provided with free school meals during the October half-term and Christmas breaks. This comes after Manchester […]

Trade talks between the UK and European Union will resume after Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier said both sides must be willing to compromise. Downing Street said Barnier and his UK counterpart Lord David Frost had agreed a set of principles for an “intensified phase of talks” starting on Thursday. Number 10 acknowledged that “significant gaps” […]

A Tory minister has suggested his government is not responsible for the rising number of children going hungry in the UK and deflected the blame on Labour instead. Paul Scully, a junior cabinet minister, provoked outrage when he said the government would not extend free school meals during the holidays because “children have been going […]

Imagine seeing some of the exchanges in today’s prime minister’s questions a year below. If we didn’t know what we know today, what would we have made of them? “If tier two regions are moving into tier three, tier two has not worked, because if tier two worked they should be going into tier one,” said […]

A German MEP has told Boris Johnson to “stop blaming others for your own actions” as she blasted the prime minister’s handling of the Brexit process. Theresa Reintke, an MEP for the Greens–European Free Alliance in the European parliament, accused Johnson of lying to the British public during a stinging assessment of his management of Brexit trade […]

Sir Keir Starmer has called on Boris Johnson to impose a nationwide “circuit breaker” lockdown after criticising the government’s three-tiered system. In a turbulent session of Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Sir Keir claimed the prime minister’s latest lockdown approach was ineffective. “Yesterday, the prime minister produced heat maps of the country showing infection rates going up in […]

MARTYN SLOMAN on the furore over an advert which revealed an underlying political issue. Rarely does an issue on skills training cause public controversy.  There has however been a recent exception.   A high-profile government-sponsored advertising campaign suggested that a young ballerina’s next job could be in cyber (“she just doesn’t know it yet!”). It […]

The minister behind coronavirus negotiations with Andy Burnham and other Greater Manchester leaders was unable to say whether gyms would remain open under the region’s new restrictions. Communities and housing minister Robert Jenrick appeared to have no idea if gyms would remain open under Tier-3 restrictions coming into force on Friday, despite being involved in lockdown […]

The former head of Whitehall said there were “legitimate” questions about the government’s preparedness for the coronavirus outbreak while taking a swipe at Dominic Cumming’s lockdown-breaking trip to Durham. Lord Mark Sedwill, who stood down last month as cabinet secretary, said Whitehall did not have all the “exact measures” in place to deal with the pandemic. […]

A leaked memo has shown that government ministers are becoming increasingly worried about the rise in support for Scottish independence. An assessment by Tory advisers warned Boris Johnson against continuously blocking Holyrood’s demands for a second referendum on independence. The document, seen by Bloomberg, was written by Hanbury Strategy and complained of a “vacuum of leadership” within the […]

Peers in the House of Lords have rejected sections of Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill which would have allowed the UK to break international law. A majority of 226 peers backed a “regret” amendment to the internal market bill that condemned the disputed provisions. The final vote was 395 in favour and 169 against. Speaking in support […]

Greater Manchester has been forced into following Tier 3 coronavirus controls after talks between the government and regional leaders concluded without an agreement. The region’s mayor Andy Burnham held last-ditch talks with Boris Johnson earlier on Tuesday aimed at securing additional financial support for his consent on new restrictions. But communities secretary Robert Jenrick said the discussions […]

Matt Hancock has come under fire from Downing Street after he was pictured not wearing a face mask while travelling in a ministerial car. According to new rules, anyone travelling in taxis and private cars are required to wear a face mask or be hit with a £200 fine which could extend to £6,400 for repeated breaches. […]

A Labour politician has lashed out at Boris Johnson and asked how he expected people to live on two-thirds of the national minimum wage if he struggled on his £150,000-a-year salary. Denton and Reddish MP Andrew Gwynne has slammed the prime minister for allegedly complaining about his salary. According to the Sunday Mirror, Tory MPs are gearing up […]

Diane Abbott has accused Sir Keir Starmer of plotting to become Labour leader while he was Brexit minister in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, and suggested the new leader had used the Remain platform to achieve his goal. The former shadow home secretary said Sir Keir’s ambitions were “fairly apparent” and accused him of running “a project of […]

A Eurosceptic MP has said Boris Johnson should consider cutting ties with the Church of England after his Brexit bill was heavily criticised by senior figures of the church. Former European Research Group chair Steve Baker said the prime minister should think about “paving a motion on the disestablishment of the Church of England” following opposition […]

Theresa May has branded Michael Gove’s claims over a no-deal Brexit as “utter rubbish”. The Conservative former prime minister repeatedly said “what?” in disbelief and appeared to mouth her thoughts as Gove outlined how the UK will be expected to boost its security outside the EU. Cabinet Office minister Gove claimed there are “many, many […]

Former House of Commons speaker Betty Boothroyd has delivered a devastating assessment of Boris Johnson’s government in a speech in the House of Lords. Baroness Boothroyd, who previously said she could not trust Johnson to even run a bath, said in 47 years in parliament she has “never seen trust in a government fall so far […]

The Royal Mint is to produce more commemorative Brexit coins over the next two weeks after MPs complained they were unable to get hold of them. More than two million of the special edition 50p coins – originally distributed on January 31 – will be produced for shops in the coming weeks, despite many restricting the […]

Boris Johnson is pursuing a “Narnia deal” with the EU, Labour warned as they urged the UK government to secure a trade agreement. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves said the opposition expects the prime minister and his team to broker an arrangement to enable the UK to trade freely with the EU. Speaking in […]

A Labour MP has called for an apology from the government over its “false promises” of delivering an “oven-ready” deal with the EU. Appearing before Michael Gove at the despatch box, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi said: “The prime minister promised the nation an oven-ready deal and it was avowedly the easiest trade deal in history to […]

Boris Johnson’s controversial Brexit legislation, enabling ministers to break international law, has been branded “dangerous” and “baffling” in the Lords. Peers warned they will seek to overturn key parts of the UK Internal Market Bill, which has already cleared the Commons despite opposition from some senior Tories. More than 100 peers are listed to speak […]

The EU expects the deadlocks over Brexit talks to last just a matter of days, with the expectation there will be a resumption next week. The Times says EU officials are briefing that a “time out” of no more than a week will give a “cooling off” period after the conclusions of the EU Council summit […]

Brexiteer James Dyson is set to sell his million-pound penthouse in Singapore at a loss – days after claiming people had “got it wrong” that he had abandoned Britain after the Brexit vote. Singapore’s Business Times reports that he is to sell the property at a loss after he accepted an offer of $62 million […]

Former Australian former prime minister Tony Abbott is set to attend his first post-Brexit trade meeting as the government’s new Board of Trade meets for the first time. The new-look panel of politicians, economists and industry figures comes as international trade secretary Liz Truss said it was a “critical moment for the UK and our […]

Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi said she has been admitted to hospital with pneumonia after testing positive for Covid-19. In a Facebook statement, the shadow international development minister said: “Two weeks ago, I began to feel unwell. I then tested positive for Covid-19, so my family and I immediately self-isolated at home. I have not travelled […]

A minister has finally conceded that an “Australian-style deal” is a no-deal Brexit, after claiming it was a “question of semantics”. Business secretary Alok Sharma appeared on LBC to announce plans to prepare the UK for the “Australian-style deal” which will leave the UK without a trade deal with the European Union. But questioned on what […]

The government is to launch a fresh Brexit campaign warning businesses about the likeliness of no deal Brexit at the end of the year. Downing Street’s message over Brexit is to move from “let’s get going” to “time is running out”, with HMRC writing to more than 200,000 firms to set out the new customs […]

A Brexiteer has attempted to pin the blame for Boris Johnson failing to secure a good Brexit deal on Remainers. LBC Radio caller Steve called David Lammy’s show was a Labour supporter but moved to the Brexit Party over its policy for a second referendum. Asked how he felt about the current situation, he said […]