News and Opinion

The contenders are… BORIS JOHNSON With no good news to announce, the prime minister’s big party conference idea was  – in the words of the immortal Mark E Smith – to talk a lot of wind. The UK is going to become “the world leader in clean wind energy” by 2030, he promised. Just imagine […]

Boris Johnson’s father has been caught without a face mask in public for the third time in a week. Stanley Johnson was pictured at an Underground station reading a newspaper with his mask lowered. This is the third time the prime minister’s father was captured flouting regulations around wearing face masks. Last Tuesday, Johnson senior was […]

If your internal bullshit detector has been sleeping on the job lately, it’s time to wake up and smell Therese Coffey. Eyebrows were raised when the work and pensions secretary advised newly unemployed cinema workers that they had “transferrable” skills suitable for work in care homes – because scooping up a 50/50 megabucket of sweet […]

Boris Johnson has claimed that it is anti-Brexiteers attempting to plot against his leadership, claiming they want to stop the government succeeding.  Here are seven things we learned from his Tory party speech. 1. It is now, apparently, “sedition”, which the Oxford dictionary defines as “conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority […]

Boris Johnson has attacked “lefty human rights lawyers” for disrupting the justice system in a move branded “utterly shameful” and “deeply concerning” by legal figures. The prime minister ramped up the rhetoric in the latest battle between the government and the justice system during his speech at the Conservative Party conference, repeating sentiments from home […]

Spectator editor Fraser Nelson debunked claims put forward by Liz Truss that No 10 has enjoyed several “successes” in its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Nelson, who now manages the magazine once edited by Boris Johnson, said polling has shown no citizens were more disappointed in their government’s response to the virus than Britons. The trade secretary and […]

Boris Johnson has claimed that Britain is “more united than for decades”, despite the threat of a split in the United Kingdom, and Brexit divides failing to be healed.   Speaking during his big speech to Tory party conference, he said: “And I believe you will see a Britain that is more united than for decades […]

A Tory politician has urged colleagues to back Rishi Sunak as Boris Johnson’s replacement at No 10. Senior Tory MSP, Murdo Fraser, retweeted a message which praised the chancellor and criticised Boris Johnson. The post, which was written by Herald columnist Iain Macwhirter read: “Rishi Sunak reaches the parts Boris cannot. “He’s as fluent and convincing […]

Margaret Ferrier attended a church service and gave a reading to the congregation the day after she developed coronavirus symptoms, it has been reported. The Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP developed coronavirus symptoms and took a test on Saturday September 26. She breached rules by travelling to London the following Monday and taking a train […]

Two major foreign car manufacturers have called on the UK government to reimburse them for additional customs charges if it failed to reach a Brexit deal with the EU. Japan’s two biggest car makers, Toyota and Nissan, want the government to cover an expected 10% tax on car imports from Britain that the EU could impose […]

Rishi Sunak has been slammed online after suggesting Britons should be “grateful” to have Boris Johnson as their leader.  Appearing on Sky News’ Kay Burley @ Breakfast show, the chancellor downplayed claims he would take a tilt at the top job of prime minister. MORE: Downing Street denies rift between Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak “I […]

The prime minister appears to have attacked himself for “forgetting the history of the UK” as he was set to make a policy announcement on wind farms at Tory party conference. In a preview of Boris Johnson’s speech, he is set to say: “I remember how some people used to sneer at wind power, twenty years […]

In his brilliant new book Who Enters Politics and Why?, academic James Weinberg provides possibly the most sophisticated analysis of why some people decide to stand for office and others don’t. His research discovers that when it comes to their basic human values, politicians really are “different”. Having spent the summer reading just about every […]

Piers Morgan has accused Rishi Sunak of getting his figures on the number of daily coronavirus tests wrong during an on-air rant. The Good Morning Britain presenter slammed Sunak for saying 250,000 people a day were being tested. “No, you’re not, because you, yourself, said on your previous interview that – you may forgotten what […]

Piers Morgan just had the perfect response to Edwina Currie when she tried to goad him on his programme. Currie, who was trying her hardest to defend the government over test, track and trace, was left stumbling over a question over the figures relating to the system. In an attempt to deflect attention away from the […]

Former House of Commons speaker John Bercow has slammed the government, saying that it is “doesn’t believe in accountability”. Bercow on Good Morning Britain condemned described the coronavirus Test and Trace system as “shambolic at best and non-existent at worst”. Asked whether he thought Johnson is the right man for the job, he replied that it […]

Boris Johnson is facing a sizeable Commons Tory rebellion over the government’s coronavirus restrictions – including the 10pm curfew and “rule of six”. Leading rebel Steve Baker said he does not expect to defeat the government, but instead get ministers to shift ground. MPs will vote on Tuesday, the day the prime minister addresses the […]

New data shows significant increases in apathy towards Covid-19 across Europe, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Fatigue has been measured in different ways across 27 countries but “is now estimated to have reached over 60%” of the population in some places, said WHO regional director for Europe Dr Hans Kluge. Dr Kluge set […]

MPs have approved a longer autumn recess for the House of Commons. The chamber will adjourn after business has concluded on Friday October 23 and return on Monday November 2. The motion detailing the recess was supported unopposed. MPs will be unable to challenge ministers in the Commons chamber during this period over coronavirus restrictions, […]

Priti Patel’s immigration bill has suffered a setback in the House of Lords after peers inflicted a number of defeats on the bill that will end EU freedom-of-movement rules in the UK. The Lords has demanded a series of changes to the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill, including to ensure continued help for […]

Rishi Sunak has declared that he does not want to take over as prime minister, laughing off claiming his own job is difficult enough. The chancellor acknowledged disagreements but spoke warmly of his relationship with Johnson after rumours of a split between the two men inhabiting Downing Street. The suggestions have largely been fuelled by […]

Boris Johnson has made his third gaffe in a week when he mistakenly told Britons they were eligible for a “£500-per-week” payment for self-isolating. The prime minster claimed it was a weekly payment to people on low incomes when it in fact was for the whole period of isolation, which could be a minimum of 14 […]

Laurence Fox has been labelled a hypocrite after vowing to boycott Sainsbury’s because of its support for Black History Month. The 42-year-old actor accused the supermarket of promoting “racial segregation and discrimination” during a Twitter rant on Sunday. Fox’s post came after the supermarket chain announced it would be marking Black History Month, an annual observance of black […]

A light wind blew in off the water and combed the open grassland covering the hills rolling along above the lake. We’d visited the ruined monastery at Hayravank, wandering around the main body of the building – an octagonal drum surmounted by a conical dome – then exploring the overgrown outbuildings, poking into the shrubbery […]

Magid Magid is a British-Somali political activist, former Green Party lord mayor of Sheffield and ex-MEP. Oh, and now a creative advisor to the 2022 Festival of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – or, as Jacob Rees-Mogg dubbed it, the Festival of Brexit. The role comes as much as a surprise to him as it […]

The UK Government is pressing ahead with draft legislation to override its commitments to the EU on Northern Ireland, which it admits will break international law. Yet it has – paradoxically – signalled it will only apply that legislation consistently with international law. This mixed messaging may be designed to encourage some its hard-line supporters […]

A comedian has taken aim at new government restrictions by releasing a hilarious chart mocking the way ministers have come up with new coronavirus rules. Belfast comedian Paddy Raff tweeted a table which asks participants to make up their own coronavirus laws. Dubbed the “government COVID-19 Law Generator”, users answer three questions, such as what your and your […]

Brexiteer and former cricketer Sir Ian Botham has taken his seat in the House of Lords. Baron Botham, more used to the surroundings of Lord’s Cricket Ground, wore the traditional scarlet and ermine-trimmed robe for the brief formal introduction ceremony. The clerk referred to him as Baron Botham of Ravensworth after his home village. The […]

James O’Brien has compared Dido Harding to Rodney Trotter from Only Fools and Horses after a “technical glitch” was blamed for 16,000 Covid cases going unreported. The LBC presenter laid into England’s test and trace chief after Public Health England (PHE) admitted 15,841 cases between September 25 and October 2 were left out of daily case figures. […]

The official Twitter account for the House of Commons has been banned from tweeting results of votes after Tory MPs complained about its impartiality over a key Brexit vote. The account – launched in 2012 to inform the public about events taking place in the Commons – informs users about debates and votes taking place […]

Nigel Farage has predicted Boris Johnson will get Britain an EU trade deal – it just will not be one Brexiteers want. The Brexit Party leader said he had a “sense” the government would compromise over fishing rights and state aid to bag a deal with the EU before the end of the transition period. MORE: Nigel Farage called a […]

Dido Harding – the Tory peer in charge of the new Test and Trace scheme  – has been urged to either resign or be sacked over coronavirus testing failures. The government is under fresh scrutiny after 16,000 Covid-19 cases went unreported and led to a delay in efforts to trace contacts of people who tested positive […]