British Politics

A Tory peer said it was “despicable” to blame the UK’s high coronavirus death toll on the government by suggesting it was the fault of “obese people”. Lord Ian McColl claimed the country’s obesity levels, population density, and popularity as a travel destination were to blame for its high death count. Speaking during a debate […]

A Tory peer has been caught swearing during a speech in the House of Lords. Lord Bethell mumbled the words “for f**k sake” when his internet connection was interrupted while delivering a speech on coronavirus. The House had adjourned for five minutes to deal with peer’s technological problems but unfortunately he did not fare better […]

YouGov polling has shown the Tory lead to have been wiped out for the first time since Boris Johnson became prime minister, as the public continues to take to Labour leader Keir Starmer. In a boost for Keir Starmer ahead of Labour’s virtual” party conference, a YouGov poll for The Times found both of the […]

Dominic Raab’s police protection officer has been suspended from duties after leaving his gun on a plane. The officer had been travelling with the foreign secretary on a visit to the US when he left his gun on a plane at London’s Heathrow Airport on Friday. The gun was reportedly found by a cleaner. A […]

An Italian newspaper has claimed that Boris Johnson took a trip to Perugia in mid-September as coronavirus infections rose. A statement from the city’s airport, reported in La Repubblica, said Johnson was in Perugia “over the past few days”, and a source told the newspaper that the prime minister “arrived on Friday September 11 at 2pm […]

Here is how your MP voted on Boris Johnson’s Internal Market Bill which attempted to override the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and international law. Labour’s amendment to block the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill from receiving a second reading was defeated by 349 votes to 213, giving the government a majority of 136. On the actual […]

The chair of the 1922 backbench Tory committee has told the prime minister he will not be voting for his Brexit bill. Addressing the House of Commons, Charles Walker initially used the opportunity to express his anger over the government’s coronavirus restrictions. ‘I am extremely concerned we are placing severe restrictions on people’s liberties without […]

A Labour MP has said he is ‘at a loss as to what the government is trying to achieve’ after he pointed out Margaret Thatcher would not have backed such the Brexit bill Boris Johnson is proposing. Darren Jones said he initially expected the Tories to listen to Nancy Pelosi’s remarks in America that if […]

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has warned Tory MPs not to follow the prime minister by breaking the law, telling them they have a ‘legal, moral and ethical’ duty to vote it down. He told the Commons: ‘This is a test for the House this evening, do not wait for the committee stage. Legally, morally, […]

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband has goaded Boris Johnson for being the man who ‘got Brexit undone’. The shadow cabinet member was filling in for Keir Starmer as politicians discussed the government’s Internal Market Bill, which plans to override parts of the Withdrawal Agreement. The former opposition leader sparked some angry looks from the prime […]

The government is set to face huge public backlash after deciding to add hunting and shooting clubs to the ‘Rule of Six’ exemption list. Prime minister Boris Johnson could have a new rebellion on his hands after it emerged grouse shooting and other ‘hunting’ with guns were exempt from new coronavirus restrictions, the Huffington Post […]

The government’s request that members of the public report people who break new lockdown rules has backfired spectacularly on social media. Twitter users found it irresistible not to mock the government which was asking UK citizens to abide by new domestic laws concerning the coronavirus while pushing ahead with plans to break international law. The […]

Former Tory prime minister David Cameron has said he has ‘misgivings’ about Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans, and urged people to look at the ‘big prize’. Cameron was asked about the prime minister’s possible breach of law in trying to override the Withdrawal Agreement. He said: ‘Passing an Act of Parliament and then going on to […]

Only a quarter of voters support Boris Johnson’s law-breaking plan to override parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, new polling suggests. The polling suggests that the government is in ‘deep trouble’ with voters over its admission it would break international law to change its Brexit plans. Some 47% of voters say planning to break the […]

Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme may be to blame for a uptick in coronavirus cases in the UK, a report suggests. An investigation by the University of Oxford said the scheme had led to an ‘extravagant’ surge in people eating out. ‘By the start of August, restaurant attendance had already bounced back […]

Readers praise EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who – unlike Boris Johnson – has shown himself to be a man of principle. Very interesting interview with Michel Barnier by Marion van Renterghem. The EU’s chief negotiator comes across as a person of principle and values. I won’t make comparisons with those on the UK side. […]

There will always be a place for the Liberal Democrats politically, argues a reader. One of the great lies told by Brexiters about the EU is that it seeks to squash national identity and subsume it all into a European superstate. Readers of this newspaper know that isn’t true and that Europe values and celebrates […]

Donald Trump’s comments about the military show that he’s only interested in self-service, writes MITCH BENN. As I mentioned here last week, there is an ongoing deluge of tell-all books written by former associates (and indeed family members) of president Trump, detailing his various alleged excesses and misdeeds and timed, one can’t help but suppose, […]

TIM WALKER on Radio 4’s censoring of Boris Johnson’s critics, Dominic Cummings’ Whitehall redecoration plans and the possibility that David Cameron might leave Twitter for good. Boris Johnson’s old friend and former Daily Telegraph colleague Sarah Sands passed on the editorship of Today to Owenna Griffiths at the end of last week. Sadly, even in […]

For Tim Walker, who stood briefly for the Lib Dems in Canterbury in the last election, Sir Ed Davey’s announcement the party would no longer push for Britain to rejoin the EU was ‘the last straw’ Short of The New European coming out for a no-deal Brexit, or the Pope renouncing Catholicism, it’s hard to […]

Former Lib Dem MEP Caroline Voaden on her new leader’s controversial decision not to endorse a policy to reverse Brexit There is no surprise in the arguments that rage on Twitter between the pro- and anti-Brexit brigades. But slanging matches between those of us who voted Remain are relatively new, and rather depressing. It’s clear […]

MITCH BENN on how former TV personalities such as Boris Johnson and Donald Trump should be banned from becoming politicians. Okay, how’s this for a semi-serious suggestion: anyone who’s ever presented a TV game show should be barred for life from running for high office. What do you think? I’m sorry if this nips in […]

RICHARD CORBETT on the warped economics of European football which are entrenching its elite sides. So, Bayern Munich are European football champions for the sixth time, after beating Paris St-Germain in last month’s Champions League final. Their triumph means that every time over the last 15 years (with one exception), the tournament has been won […]

A photographer who got a picture of the PM in the grounds of Chequers ‘spooked’ him – he could have been a sniper. With stark warnings of civil unrest following a no-deal Brexit, Boris Johnson has ordered that the ring of steel around Chequers, his beloved country retreat in the Buckinghamshire countryside, be reinforced still […]

MITCH BENN reflects on his childhood television habits as streaming giants prepare to reboot old favourites. If the current (and yes it is still current, whatever the government says) pandemic has benefitted one industry more than any other, it has to be the burgeoning TV streaming sector. I’ve heard some people opine – probably in […]

TIM WALKER says the former cabinet secretary’s book is set to rattle the prime minister. Sir Jeremy Heywood, the highly-regarded cabinet secretary who died in 2018 shortly after stepping down from the role, is to deliver his verdict on Boris Johnson’s government posthumously. His widow Suzanne has put the finishing touches to a manuscript he […]

Readers have their say on what the Lib Dems must do to turn around their fortunes with the electorate. Emma Kennedy makes several good points in her recent article. Despite a disappointing seat tally the Lib Dem vote in 2019 went up by a solid 4.1% to a respectable 11.5% on an unequivocal pro-EU platform. […]

Being part of the EU is more likely to solve Brexiteer Priti Patel’s problems than being out of it. Some of your readers will remember the Small Faces’ Whatcha Gonna Do About It – if you don’t, have a listen. So Priti Patel, what are you going to do about it, ‘it’ being the ‘invasion’ […]

With the UK in a recession and heading towards another cliff-edge the Lib Dems appear unable yet to revive itself from the 2019 election defeat. Trust in British politics has been shaken. We need a coherent opposition alliance focused on campaigning for a complete overhaul of our failing politics for a fairer electoral system. So […]

After poking fun at the Conservative Party, MITCH BENN reports on the long road ahead for the Labour Party. Eagle-eyed (and elephant-brained) readers may recall that I spent all of last week’s column poking fun at the Conservative Party; specifically the way that occasional attempts by Tory politicians to look and act normal merely serve […]

MITCH BENN says he is disturbed by Conservative politicians attempting to act normal. You may have run into the term ‘Uncanny Valley’; it’s an expression primarily used in the fields of robotics and computer animation. It refers to that uniquely uncomfortable phenomenon whereby the more human something looks, the more disturbing the fact that it’s […]

TIM WALKER talks of growing fond of Sir Nicholas Soames, Boris Johnson’s dishonours list and reading up on the coronavirus crisis Boris Johnson’s dishonours list – Evgeny Lebedev, Jo Johnson and Ian Botham etc nominated for peerages – was greeted with dismay in the Upper House. Some decent, right-minded members considered relinquishing their titles in […]