British Politics

Boris Johnson’s latest peerage nominations included a number of his Brexiteer supporters, and even his own brother. But one reader thinks he should have gone further. Despite its obvious nepotism, the awarding of a life peerage to Jo Johnson seems one of the least obnoxious aspects of the appointments by ‘the people’s government’ addressing ‘the […]

Now is not yet time for pro-Europeans to make a move, but that time is coming. I will not go over Ben Bradshaw’s excellent summary of what happened after the referendum, but on the following Monday I bumped into one of my fellow councillors, on a council that must remain anonymous to protect the innocent. […]

Russia has attempted to tear apart the European Union, but instead it has brought it closer together. Russian interference in the Brexit referendum (‘The Russia Report and what it doesn’t tell us’, TNE #204) was driven, apparently, by its desire to weaken the European Union. I think recent events actually suggest the meddling has strengthened […]

The reality of what the end of the transition period means is only now starting to hit home. Yet another piece of underhand behaviour by the ‘Brexit at any cost’ government has just slipped out; we will no longer have reciprocal medical cover in EU countries. Many millions of us who have European Health Insurance […]

MITCH BENN on how Boris Johnson’s decisions to tackle obesity are not helping. As is generally the case with what we will, for the lack of a more accurate term, call our present ‘government’, I find myself wondering if I’d be eyeing their newfound enthusiasm for tackling obesity with less suspicion if it were coming […]

TIM WALKER on how trust in the British mainstream media is now in short supply. Dr Julian Lewis’s lethal question in the Commons last week to the security minister James Brokenshire – drawing attention to my scoop that Dominic Cummings had attempted to replace the secretariat of the independent Intelligence and Security Committee with political […]

MITCH BENN says loyalty is great, but it’s rarely an indicator of intelligence – and that’s the government’s problem. It’s good to know that as the country sinks into ever more viscous mires of torpor and despair, there’s still someone out there who can be guaranteed to raise a smile. I refer of course to […]

TIM WALKER on the Chris Grayling’s future, a rebellion in Nigel Lawson’s family and the former chancellor’s new Saudi gig. With a father in Lord Lawson who was chairman of Vote Leave and a brother in Dominic who is one of Brexit’s most outspoken proponents in journalism, it takes some spirit for Nigella Lawson to […]

Readers have their say on the Leave.EU campaign’s move to New Zealand to support populist Kiwi politician Winston Peters. I notice from Steve Anglesey’s column that arch-Brexiteers Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore have been in New Zealand campaigning against the incumbent prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and her ruling party (‘Laughing all the way to Banks’ […]

MITCH BENN on the tell-all memoir by Mary Trump which delves deep into the president’s pschye. I’m sure you’ve all heard the expression ‘I think, therefore I am’; it was first coined by the philosopher René Descartes in 1637 and it describes, succinctly, the limits placed upon human cognition and on the whole idea of […]

Former Intelligence and Security Committee chair Dominic Grieve has a theory for why the Russia report is still yet to be released. Dominic Grieve has an intriguing theory about why the report into Russian involvement in British politics has still – more than a year after the Intelligence and Security Committee completed it – failed […]

MITCH BENN sees 2020 as the perfect time for Sapphire and Steel to return – as something has definitely gone wrong with time. Okay so who remembers Sapphire & Steel? I’m guessing that most of you of a similar (increasingly dusty and obscure) vintage as myself will recall Sapphire & Steel being on prime time […]

One reader thinks Boris Johnson will resign after claiming he has achieved his goal of getting Brexit ‘done’. Am I the only person who thinks the career psychopath and his mop-haired poodle will have resigned by the end of the year, claiming how they courageously managed to ‘get Brexit done’? Job done: Maximum destruction and […]

Labour will fare better once the issue of Scottish independence is resolved, claims reader David Roche. It was heartening to see four letters supporting the further (d)evolution of the well-past-its sell-by date United Kingdom in TNE #201. In particular, councillor Andrew Parrott’s rationale – as a ‘liberal Englishman’ with sympathy for liberal-Labour policies – for […]

With many broadcasters becoming hostile to Boris Johnson’s coronavirus response, TIM WALKER reports Rupert Murdoch’s new radio station appears to be willing to give the government an easy ride. Many thought Boris Johnson was given an easy ride when he spoke to the new Times Radio. Picture: PA – Credit: PA Although Boris Johnson did […]

Readers have their say on the week in news. Boris Johnson told us Brexit would be easy, then we’d sort out this virus in three months and now he tells us he’s pumping billions into the economy and there will be no austerity. As they say ‘third time lucky’. Tony Howarth London SW3 Have your […]

Whether it’s Brexit or the coronavirus response, this isn’t ‘British exceptionalism’, it was manufactured in England. Surely the people of Scotland, Wales and Ulster have every right to protest when they hear the expression ‘British exceptionalism’. As the former MP Phillip Lee insisted on a recent Channel 4 Dispatches, the source of the government’s disastrous […]

One reader thinks the tactics Boris Johnson used to win the last election are here to stay. Why do so many commentators and letter writers to TNE assume that the collapse of the Johnson project (if such a shambles may be termed thus) will provide an opening for the liberal centre-left? Given the 2019 election […]

MITCH BENN is dreading the end of lockdown. Here he wonders why so many other people aren’t. I have a small confession to make. In fact it might not even be that small; I can’t really tell. Certainly I’m nervous as I type this but here goes: I’m really dreading lockdown ending. I’m aware that […]

After spending millions on noisy work for a new extension, Cummings has been winding his neighbours up as much as the rest of the country, TIM WALKER reports. Booed and jeered by his neighbours in Islington, north London, for his disregard of the lockdown rules, Dominic Cummings has long had a reputation as disruptive influence […]

MITCH BENN on the Boris Johnson and Donald Trump supporters who can no longer defend their leader. It’s not often that I feel sympathy for Donald Trump. Actually I’d like to revise that statement; it’s never that I feel sympathy for Donald Trump. Whatever misfortunes he may fleetingly suffer he has invariably brought upon himself […]

Boris Johnson’s old leadership rival could make another bid for Number 10, writes TIM WALKER. Have your say Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for more comment and analysis. Find your nearest stockist here or subscribe to a print or digital edition […]

Readers have their say on what needs to happen to change politics at the next general election. Andrew Adonis is quite right that we need an electoral pact in 2024 to rid ourselves of these directionless extremists (‘The crucial contest’, TNE #198), but I would suggest he doesn’t go far enough. What is needed is […]

The government no longer exists, writes MITCH BENN. In its place, we have a PR machine. I’ve come to something of a realisation in the last week or so: we do not, at this moment, have a government in the country. We have a prime minister, when he can be bothered to turn up; we […]

TIM WALKER on Dominic Cummings, the alienation by Boris Johnson of his supporters and LBC’s ousting of Nigel Farage In a sign that Dominic Cummings sees his place at Boris Johnson’s side as assured no matter how much unease about him there is on the Tory backbenches, he has quietly shut down his firm Dynamic […]

Statues and monuments have an inherent context, writes MITCH BENN. They honour and elevate people and it’s legitimate to take down those we no longer respect. Like most of you, with the exception of some readers in Bristol, I’ve learned more about the 17th-18th century slave trading magnate (and, not that this changes anything, civic […]

Readers have their say on the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, and a potential trade agreement with Donald Trump. Francis Beckett’s article ‘We’re being fattened up for a one-way deal with Trump’ was depressing enough, but added to Boris Johnson’s love for all things American, as quoted in his book Life in the Fast Lane, […]

Readers have their say on the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK, with the latest unrest triggered by the death of George Floyd in the US. As British media outlets scramble to find black/brown voices to comment on the horrors unfolding in America, the ‘thank-goodness-we’re-not-that-bad’ tone seems false to me. In the UK we […]

TIM WALKER pulls apart the appointment of a new director general at the BBC. Boris Johnson plays tennis in the grounds of the Palace of Westminster in 2015. Photo: PA – Credit: PA Sir Bernard Jenkin, the chairman of the powerful liaison committee set up to scrutinise Boris Johnson, must have breathed a sign of […]

With the US leader likely to face a plethora of investigations and possible legal proceedings the moment he is no longer a sitting president, MITCH BENN wonders if Trump might use national crisis as an excuse to delay this November’s election. The trouble with populism is that it’s empty. It’s like a slick advertisement advertising […]

Readers have their say on the EU, and Boris Johnson’s refusal to extend the Brexit transition period, during the coronavirus pandemic. As a European citizen, I feel offended by countries like Austria, Holland, Denmark and Sweden that put financial issues before solidarity even in these times of pandemic. I would like a European government, I […]

Despite beating Jeremy Corbyn at the last election, Boris Johnson appears to be making the same mistakes in his leadership techniques. Up to now Johnson had a triple strength political honeymoon, generated by huge electoral success, ‘getting Brexit done’ (part one, anyway), and widespread deep sympathy after his Covid-19 brush with death. His government’s risible […]