British Politics

Following a call from Exmouth, comedian Mitch Benn writes a rock parody song to offer an olive branch of understanding and cooperation to all the regretful Leave voters. I’m typing this while waiting for a video clip to ‘render’ (ie. be saved in a usable form); it’s taking a while, as my wheezy old laptop […]

For those who didn’t get a say in the original EU referendum they are hoping that there will be a People’s Vote so their voices can finally be heard. I am 20 years old and currently taking a second gap year to focus on the campaign I started to provide a youth voice on Brexit: […]

Let’s not forget, peace in Europe is not a natural state. We have to fight for it, says MITCH BENN I don’t know if you’ve seen any of the archive footage of the First World War trenches ‘restored’ by filmmaker Peter Jackson for his new documentary They Shall Not Grow Old. I put quotes around […]

Politics of hate will fall and the politics of hope will endure, writes MITCH BENN. It’s been another one of those weeks in which clinging to the positive – indeed just finding the positive – has seemed like a Herculean labour. And don’t come to me expecting zingers about the (thankfully ineptly-executed) mail bomb campaign […]

The People’s Vote March for the Future proves resistance is working, argues Mitch Benn. Well, that was a thing. I took part in the People’s Vote March for the Future in London on Saturday and, a quick mental number-crunch confirms, there’s a reasonable statistical probability that you did too. I’ve seen the jaw-dropping aerial shots […]

Why are our institutions and public servants being stopped from doing their jobs, asks a New European reader. The Met Police are stalling on an investigation of the Leave campaigns which broke electoral law because it is too ‘politically sensitive’. The head of HM Revenue and Customs has received death threats after setting out the […]

MITCH BENN has a simple message for all of those considering marching on Saturday – get on the bus and turn up! It can be tricky sometimes, when trying to spur one’s contemporaries into action (which appears to be pretty much my full-time job these days) to strike the proper balance between urgency and despair. […]

Tim Walker talks to the former attorney general who is now eloquently making the case for a People’s Vote. If Boris Johnson were to finally succeed Theresa May as prime minister, and – in the interests of unifying the Conservative Party – he decided to offer Dominic Grieve a place in his cabinet, the answer […]

Writer, comedian and musician MITCH BENN issues a rallying call for readers to join the People’s Vote March in London. It’s getting more difficult, isn’t it? With every day that passes it’s getting harder not to just switch off the news, log off the internet, go about our daily business and pretend that none of […]

EXCLUSIVE: TIM WALKER on a bid to break the Westminster impasse and force a People’s Vote The Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable is challenging Nicola Sturgeon to join the fight in Parliament for a People’s Vote. ‘We need the SNP’s MPs to vote with us to secure this victory, as the Parliamentary arithmetic is […]

You don’t obstruct an investigation which you will believe will clear your name, says MITCH BENN Matt Damon on Saturday Night Live as Brett Kavanaugh. PHOTO: Fox News – Credit: Archant I’ve just finished watching the ‘cold open’ to the last edition of Saturday Night Live. The ‘cold open’ is a pre-opening credits sketch which, […]

We’re winning this, writes MITCH BENN, and Brexit will ultimately meet its Waterloo. This year’s Labour conference was, you’ll note, in Liverpool, my birthplace and boyhood home; this is slightly ironic for reasons which will become apparent in a few paragraphs’ time. There was a very well attended pro-People’s Vote march there on Sunday. As […]

Readers react to the latest announcement from Jacob Rees-Mogg and the ERG. May it comfort readers to be reminded that a ERG is an obsolete unit of work in the metric system? An ERG of work is done when a force of one dyne moves its point of application through one centimetre. It is a […]

Mitch Benn on the danger of creeping optimism and the power of Scotland. Something dangerous is creeping into our movement. Optimism. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with optimism. But like anything else that makes you feel good, you have to take it easy with optimism. A little bit will put a spring […]

With the Liberal Democrat conference opening in Brighton this weekend, Layla Moran talks to Tim Walker about Brexit, Vince Cable’s proposals for the party – and those rumours she’s about to succeed him. Layla Moran, the 35-year-old Lib Dem MP touted as the next leader of her party, was relaxed to the point of insouciance […]

Comedian Mitch Benn takes to task the political commentators going to absurd lengths in search of the moral high-ground. If there’s anything more depressing than the sight of someone truly stupid giving full rein to their stupidity (and we’re getting more than enough of that at the moment, not to name any presidents) then it’s […]

I wrote to my MEP Nigel Farage requesting a financial assessment of the benefits of Brexit. I was expecting a mathematical answer but was astonished to receive a reply blaming those bloody Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle: ‘May I suggest some general reading for you: Hobbes, Locke, Von Mises, Hayek, Fukuyama. The EU is based […]

Following the death of John McCain mainstream media has been flooded with tributes to America’s war hero. But further into the blogosphere, Senator McCain’s death is proving just as divisive as he was, writes Mitch Benn US Republican Presidential Candidate Senator John McCain speaks during a rally in Davenport, Iowa. (Photo credit should read JIM […]

Comedian, musician and writer MITCH BENN recalls the speech he gave at a People’s Vote rally What do you think, is 48 too old to discover your true calling? I’m still in Edinburgh, still have a few days left of my Fringe run… About 10 days ago, I got wind of the fact that there […]

Isn’t it ironic that our divided government should mark the centenary of the ending of the First World War with facile arguments over Brexit and internal feuding? If only, for the sake of the millions killed on all sides in the conflict, they could show some real magnanimity and unity with our European counterparts. John […]

MITCH BENN assesses whether Boris’ fixation has moved from Churchill to Bannon. Two thoughts on the topic of freedom of speech: 1. Boris Johnson is perfectly within his rights to say whatever he wants about burqas. 2. The rest of us are perfectly within our rights to call Boris Johnson a reckless, shameless attention-craving, trouble-stirring, […]

I voted out in the referendum, but rapidly recovered my senses when Brexit fell prey to the far-right agenda. This stairway to heaven has become a dark passage inhabited by the dark art of data manipulation, and questions about the people behind anti-EU backers. To me it is now crystal clear that the whole Brexit […]

I noted with interest Tory trade secretary, Liam Fox, warning that a no-deal Brexit was now more likely than the UK getting an agreement with the EU. Quite bizarrely, this appears to be the same Liam Fox who little more than a year ago said that a post-Brexit free trade with the EU should be […]

Steve Anglesey looks at online reaction as Britain’s food shops prepare for a no-deal Brexit. Thank goodness for the earlier football transfer deadline! This self-inflicted wound, which disadvantages English teams while Europeans can still trade freely, has provided welcome relief from the problems of Brexit. But before we were obsessed with the transfer market, we […]

In summer 2016 my wife sent to our MP a detailed response about the conduct of the referendum, outlining all our now too-familiar concerns. In summer 2016 my wife sent to our MP a detailed response about the conduct of the referendum, outlining all our now too-familiar concerns. She received an acknowledgement that her letter […]

The £39billion we have committed to pay to the EU upon our exit is NOT a gratuity or a divorce payment. It represents a legal liability. It represents historic infrastructure commitments and liabilities entered into by our nation that are to be completed by 2030. It represents the remaining 21 months of the seven-year budget […]

It would seem that one of the scapegoats being prepared for when Brexit fails are Remainers who refuse to ‘get behind Brexit’. How one is supposed to support a vacuum is beyond me. Brexit is by definition a negative, dismantling process; there is nothing there of substance to support, even if one wanted to. It’s […]

With her Chequers agreement Theresa May is not trying to dilute Brexit: she is positively trying to deliver it. It would help her cause mightily if she communicated more bluntly to the country that a Boris Brexit, of having your cake and eating it, was and is undeliverable whoever is running the country. People need […]

It was reported this month that 53% of the UK population do not identify as religious. This is what is known in Whitehall as a landslide. This is a tremendous victory for non-religious people. It’s significant and symbolic. To ignore it invites unrest and division. We must obey the will of the people. On Monday […]

I’m concerned that so far, too few Leavers seem to have changed their minds and holding a second referendum before the time is right may be counterproductive. I suspect that right now the best that could be expected would be a mirror-image of two years ago – 52/48 for Remain. The whole issue of Brexit […]

It was rich for Boris to say we were dithering about Brexit, writes Anthony West. I wonder if Boris Johnson was using the ‘royal we’ during his resignation speech. Near the beginning he says ‘we have dithered’ about Brexit. This is of course exactly what our unlamented ex-foreign secretary did in 2016 (shall I, shan’t […]

Comedian MITCH BENN looks forward to how we can all spend our first summer after leaving the EU Hi! I hope you’re all enjoying your final pre-Brexit summer! Oh, were you trying not to think about that? Yeah, me too. Sorry. Well, chin up! Brexit isn’t the end of the world! Not LITERALLY, anyway. Economically […]