British Politics

The SNP’s Westminster leader has told one of his own MPs to stand down, urging her “to do the honourable thing” as calls for her resignation increase. Ian Blackford has called for Margaret Ferrier to resign her seat after it emerged she travelled between Glasgow and London with coronavirus. Ferrier said in a statement on Thursday […]

Wealthy seats and new Tory strongholds have evaded lockdown despite having higher infection rates than areas experiencing tighter restrictions, leaked emails have shown. Emails between health officials leaked to the Sunday Times show there is growing pressure to explain why large parts of the Midlands and the North are under local lockdowns while seats such as the prime minster’s […]

A front cover from the Daily Express featuring comments from health secretary Matt Hancock suggesting Brexit can “save lives” has been criticised. Under the headline “BREXIT GIVES UK FREEDOM TO FAST-TRACK WONDER DRUGS”, the newspaper reports that Hancock had insisted that Brexit will help save lives by allowing new drugs to be approved faster. The […]

Boris Johnson will not be given a “warm” reception from the White House if Joe Biden wins the presidential election, according to Britain’s former ambassador to Washington. Lord Kim Darroch said there was still some “resentment and unhappiness” over comments Johnson made while mayor of London and in newspaper columns about the former US president. He also said Johnson would […]

The chancellor has said he has “no regrets” over the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme, despite reports it could have spread coronavirus infections. Rishi Sunak was dubbed Dishi Rishi after unveiling his August scheme of subsidised meals out to help a pub and restaurant sector badly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Treasury figures show more […]

Boris Johnson has claimed Brexit will provide a “huge opportunity” for Scotland – suggesting it will have a positive impact on the country. The prime minister made the comments following a speech by Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, who spoke about the party’s “defeatism” over Scottish independence. The Moray MP said: “The case for separation is now being […]

Home secretary Priti Patel has used her conference speech to criticise Black Lives Matter protests, accusing them of “hooliganism and thuggery” on the country’s streets. Social media video clips showed police in Westminster having objects hurled at them by anti-racist campaigners earlier this year, while a statue of Sir Winston Churchill had to be boarded […]

A health minister has been urged to apologise after he compared the coronavirus pandemic response to the Olympics. The peer was asked at a Conservative Party conference fringe event where the UK would rank in the world in terms of its response to the pandemic, and said the UK would be “proud” of how it […]

A former Brexit Party MEP has suggested the Tory manifesto contained lies on Brexit – claiming there was not a “single accurate thing” in the section on leaving the EU. Ben Habib, an ex-Brexit Party politician who represented the seat of London in the European Parliament for six months before it was abolished in January this […]

Boris Johnson has joined the row over an SNP MP who made a “monumental” error of judgment by taking a train from London to Scotland when she knew she had tested positive for coronavirus. The prime minister was asked about Margaret Ferrier on BBC Scotland when he replied that it was vital that “everyone obeys the rules […]

The Green Party’s leadership has avoided referencing Brexit or membership of the European Union as it pitched its vision to supporters as part of this year’s virtual conference. Co-leaders Jonathan Bartley and Sian Berry instead used their conference speech to focus on the pandemic response.  Bartley said the action taken in response to the crisis had […]

The Commons has become more a more divided and hostile place since the Tories were elected in 2010, research has revealed. Analysis carried out by the think-tank Compassion in Politics has shown cooperation between Labour and Tory MPs has steadily declined since the Conservative won power a decade ago. Examining voting records since Tony Blair’s […]

Former Brexit secretary David Davis has claimed the government should “shrug off” the EU threat of legal action over the Internal Market Bill which breaches international law. The Brexiteer told talkRADIO: “I don’t think it’s something we should take terribly seriously. “The first thing to understand is this was going to happen. “If the EU […]

Dominic Cummings is said to be so “obsessed” with migrant Channel crossings that he is pushing No 10 to consider the construction of offshore processing facilities, a Home Office official has claimed. The prime minister’s most senior adviser is reported to be worried about the impact of asylum seekers crossing the English Channel on the opinions […]

A Tory Brexiteer MP has told Matt Hancock he needs to “start acting like a Conservative” in the House of Commons. The comments were made in anger to the proposals from the health secretary to tackle the coronavirus. In a clash in the House of Commons, backbencher Philip Davies stood up in front of MPs […]

Robert Jenrick has been accused of having “double standards” after his criticisms of opposition MPs breaking Covid regulations was not extended to the prime minister’s top adviser, Dominic Cummings. SNP MP Margaret Ferrier broke self-isolation guidelines when she travelled from her Glaswegian seat of Rutherglen and Hamilton West to Westminster while waiting for the results of a coronavirus test. Upon […]

Tory backbenchers are plotting a new rebellion over coronavirus restrictions – this time over the 10pm curfew for pubs and restaurants. Rebels are reportedly looking to force a vote on the issue, the Telegraph reports, after MPs in Boris Johnson’s own party accused him of presiding over a “nanny state”. Steve Baker, one of the […]

At the height of the last pandemic to hit the UK – the 1987 AIDS crisis – the government released a terrifying ad. At its conclusion it showed a huge tombstone, upon which was engraved the message: “DON’T DIE OF IGNORANCE.” The campaign was deliberately engineered to be terrifying (one TV spot featured a volcano), […]

For her new book, DEBORAH MATTINSON has been talking to voters in Red Wall constituencies. Her research underlines how Brexit remains a totemic issue there. Voters in the Red Wall, in common with voters pretty much everywhere, tend not to follow politics very closely. I once ran a focus group live on TV where one […]

Cultural commentator and broadcaster PETER YORK on those with the knives out for the Corporation. There is a war against the BBC. Does that sound over the top? When Paddy Barwise and I were searching for a title for our new book, back in 2018, we feared it might be. A war against the British […]

Did you notice Boris Johnson raising those careworn eyes towards the wider world horizon in the past few days? Not once but twice. First, to promise a generous £340 million UK contribution to the embattled World Health Organisation despite it being Public Enemy No 208 to his comrade-in-expediency, Tax Dodger Trump. Second, to pledge Britain […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg has announced plans for a week-long Commons recess, raising concerns over how the government’s coronavirus measures can be properly scrutinised. The extra-long break has been introduced because of fears over the spread of coronavirus, but prompted criticism from social media users who claimed the government was hiding from scrutiny. It comes at a […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg has compared the SNP to Oliver Twist in his latest swipe against the party’s calls for Scottish independence. Rees-Mogg said Nicola Sturgeon’s party was “modelling themselves on Oliver Twist”. Speaking in the Commons, the House leader took umbrage at comments by the SNP’s Tommy Sheppard that devolved administration would never back the government’s internal […]

Peers will make a fresh attempt to block cheap US food imports such as chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef if Boris Johnson refuses to make concessions to Tory rebels. The House of Lords is currently debating stricter laws to govern food production after Brexit. However, critics – including several Tory rebels – fear that the […]

A Commons committee has called for more “transparency” in the appointment of the next BBC and Ofcom chairs after the government faced accusations of “interfering” in the process. Former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, a vocal BBC critic, is said to be Boris Johnson’s preferred candidate for the Ofcom chairman role, while ex-Daily Telegraph editor Charles […]

Television doctor Dr Hilary Jones has criticised Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley Johnson, after he was pictured not wearing a face mask in a shop. Johnson has since apologised for his actions, claiming he wasn’t “100% up to speed” with the latest government guidelines. But face coverings have been compulsory in shops and on public transport […]

Boris Johnson is shying away from suggestions his father and Jeremy Corbyn should be fined for breaking coronavirus restrictions. The prime minister’s official spokesperson said that enforcement of the new regulations were up to the police, not ministers. The prime minister’s father, Stanley Johnson, was pictured entering a shop on Tuesday without a face mask meanwhile […]

As the UK prepares for a possible second wave of the coronavirus pandemic it appears once again divided. The unity seen during the first lockdown has been lost, explains TIMOTHY OLIVER. The arrival of the coronavirus pandemic transformed the UK political scene in the blink of an eye. At the start of 2020, the national […]

James O’Brien has asked Brexiteers whether they regret voting for Brexit now the UK faced legal proceedings from the EU. The LBC presenter pointed to a letter from the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost to car manufacturers as proof many of his warnings about the economic impacts of Brexit were in fact true. MORE: ‘Project Fear’ was […]

Whatever else might be said about Sasha Swire’s memoirs, they hardly instil confidence in the political classes. This may well be why Rupert Murdoch was willing to splash out no less than £250,000 to serialise them in the Times and Sunday Times. “It’s a jaw-dropping amount of money for a book in these straitened times, […]

The Labour leader’s first conference speech was light on detail, but in an earlier presentation clear contours of his vision could be made out, says FLORENCE SUTCLIFFE-BRAITHWAITE. Earlier this month, Keir Starmer addressed the Trades Union Congress annual conference for the first time as Labour Party leader. Just over a year earlier, as shadow Brexit […]

Wave machines designed to push refugee dinghies back across the Channel are among a range of measures to have been considered by officials in Priti Patel’s Home Office department. The department has been looking at ways to disrupt refugees attempting to enter the UK by crossing from the French coast in small boats. The Financial […]