News and Opinion

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said praised Labour’s Keir Starmer’s response to the coronavirus pandemic as being ‘exactly right’. McDonnell said the Labour leader had approached the government in a ‘constructive way’ during the Covid-19 pandemic. He said the government had adopted several policies put forward by Labour in order to tackle the crisis […]

A Daily Mail ‘scoop’ claiming to have found where Boris Johnson is holidaying in Scotland has left the public sceptical. https://twitter.com/reeta_iceburg/status/1296725352266465280 The newspaper published a photograph of a ‘teepee-style’ canvas tent which has been pitched on the Scottish coast, said to be Applecross, and splashed it on its front page. Johnson is also photographed in […]

A senior Tory and Brexiteer MP has criticised the government for insisting mistakes are never their fault when they arise. Tory chairman of the Liaison Committee Sir Bernard Jenkin said ‘there is a sort of pattern setting in’ under Boris Johnson’s government where ‘something goes wrong and it is the permanent secretary’s fault or it […]

As a New European reader, you probably reckon you keep a close eye on the continent’s news. Test yourself with our quiz… Think you’re on top of what’s been going on across Europe in the past seven days? Take The New European’s tricky quiz and find out just how much of a Europhile you are…

A group of MPs and peers are threatening legal action against the government unless Boris Johnson takes action over alleged Russian interference in the Brexit referendum and general elections that followed. The threat comes from prominent politicians including the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas, Labour’s Chris Bryant and Baroness Wheatcroft, a Conservative peer until she resigned […]

A radio talk show host has attracted a backlash after he launched a personal attack on 17-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg and branded her a ‘doom goblin’. talkRADIO host Kevin O’Sullivan accused the teenager of spreading ‘nonsense’ after she issued fresh warnings about climate change. ‘So Greta today, or yesterday, said we had ‘two […]

A Labour frontbencher has joked that Royal Mail should be used to help find Boris Johnson after his period of absence in a quip about Steve Bannon’s arrest. Shadow justice minister David Lammy was playing on the news that former Trump advisor Steve Bannon had been arrested by US postal service inspectors over defrauding thousands […]

A French politician has blamed Britain for the death of a 16-year-old Sudanese migrant who washed up on a beach in Calais. Quick reminder ?? UK, 2019 : 35.000 asylum applications, 12.863 granted. France, 2019 : 177.863 asylum applications, 36.275 granted.We are doing more than our job to protect refugees. It's now time for the […]

A former advisor to Donald Trump has been arrested on suspicion of defrauding thousands of investors who donated to an online fundraiser to build a wall along the US-Mexican border. Former White House advisor Steve Bannon and three others were arrested in the US on Thursday on charges of defrauding donors of an online fundraising […]

George Osborne appears to have mocked Boris Johnson’s questionable absence during a time of political crisis by posting a ‘Where’s Wally?’ style cartoon. Our ⁦@Adamstoon1⁩ ⁦@EveningStandard⁩ pic.twitter.com/iQF0IamrEn— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) August 20, 2020 The former chancellor and Tory MP posted a snap of this morning’s Evening Standard cartoon drawn by Adam Stoon on his Twitter […]

A Tory minister has insisted Boris Johnson is being kept abreast of the A-Levels fiasco while on holiday despite being told he should be leading the crisis. Education minister Nick Gibb said he has been in contact with the prime minister twice this week to discuss the ongoing problem of A-Level and GCSE results. Appearing […]

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross reckons he could take on Nicola Sturgeon to become the first minister of Scotland – despite his pro-Brexit stance and her mammoth lead in the polls. Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon with prime minister Boris Johnson. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA. – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images Speaking to the Scottish Sun, the […]

Brexiteers have fumed after the RNLI was launched to help save migrants getting into difficulty attempting to cross the English Channel. Led By Donkeys’ display projected onto the White Cliffs of Dover featuring the story of Syrian refugee Hassan Akkad. Photograph: Led By Donkeys/PA Wire . – Credit: PA The lifeboat was launched from Dover […]

Labour has warned against ending the furlough scheme prematurely saying up to 1.2 million jobs could be at risk if it goes. Shadow environment secretary Luke Pollard called on Rishi Sunak to ditch his ‘one-size-fits-all approach’ to withdraw the furlough scheme and focus on a more targeted approach to spending instead. Pollard said the chancellor’s […]

The minister for schools has admitted he backtracked on plans to quit following last week’s A-Levels fiasco. Nick Gibb told LBC listeners he had considered throwing in the towel following last week’s A-Levels debacle but decided to stay on at the last minute. Gibb had previously reassured students that the government’s system for predicting A-Level […]

Sugar beet farmers in the UK have criticised the government’s proposals for reduced tariffs on imported cane sugar after Brexit, which campaigners point out directly benefits a Tory Brexit backer. The government has announced the introduction of a new zero-tariff 260,0000-tonne Autonomous Tariff Quota (ATQ) for raw sugar coming into the UK at the end […]

Labour has accused Liz Truss of attempting to bury connections with a pro-hard Brexit think tank after she erased meetings from a public register. Labour has said Truss, who is the trade secretary, was trying to conceal the think tank’s influence on government trade policy. According to Reuters, Truss had two meetings with the Institute […]

BONNIE GREER on the president’s sinister strategy to hoax a nation. Wednesday was ironing day when I was growing up, and the day that my late mother watched what are now known as ‘classic’ films. I would join her, my eyes glued to the screen as I hung up or folded what she had ironed. […]

A company with links to Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove was given a contract to handle communications over this year’s A-Level results without going through the competitive tender process. Public First, a small research firm in London, is run by James Frayne – a longtime associate of Cummings who worked with him on Eurosceptic campaigns […]

The latest Tory u-turn has led to a slump in support for the governing party as its lead over Labour is slashed to just two points. The latest YouGov polling for the Times has found the Tory lead dropped from nine points last week to just two. The Conservatives are now on 40% of support […]

A former long-standing Tory MEP has announced he is now supporting Sir Keir Starmer, with a dig to Boris Johnson’s government saying that the Labour leader represented the ‘values’ of everyday Britons. Sajjad Karim, a former Tory MEP for North West England from 2004 until July last year, claimed Sir Keir was the ‘voice for […]

Young people have rallied behind the Labour party in the wake of the A-Level results fiasco and plan to punish the government at the polls. Following an uproar and protests this weekend the government issued a U-turn on its A-levels results grading. Picture: PA/Victoria Jones – Credit: PA In a poll carried out by Survation […]

The Daily Mail has been criticised for allowing readers on its Facebook page to comment celebrating the death of a refugee from Sudan. The boy, believe to be Sudanese, washed up on a shore near Calais on Wednesday morning after trying to cross the English Channel in a makeshift inflatable raft. News outlets are reporting […]

A Tory MP’s call to ‘bring in the army’ to help stop migrant crossing across the English Channel has been condemned by immigration charities. Brexiteer Sarah Atherton, who represents the Welsh constituency of Wrexham, has said the Army should be deployed to end what she called an ‘unacceptable’ number of boat crossings. Immigration experts were […]

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’ […]

A firm with links to Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove has won almost £1 million worth of government work without having to undergo an open tender process. Public First, a small research firm with links to the prime minister’s top aide and a cabinet minister, has been awarded £956,000 worth of government contracts which were […]

A Westminster body has rejected Boris Johnson’s demand for a review of the multibillion-pound plans to repair the Palace of Westminster which could have considered whether it is possible to move parliament to York. Johnson had asked the body responsible for the project to consider a ‘possible location outside London’ for Parliament to sit while […]

It’s not only the current prime minister who has lived a colourful life. See if you can identify these PMs from STEVE ANGLESEY’s list of amazing facts. Take our interactive quiz and let us know how many you can get right!

Questions are being raised over Dido Harding’s decision to run Matt Hancock’s new health department unpaid. Harding was appointed to run the newly formed National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP) by the health secretary, which will come to replace Public Health England. But the Tory baroness has refused to draw a salary and is also […]

A radio presenter was left shocked after a caller to his programme said she has four holidays lined up – and will be ignoring any government rules on quarantine when she returns. James O’Brien said he would have to resort to calling the police if she continues to flout the rules and regulations that require […]

Boris Johnson is under pressure to allow Australians to live and travel freely in the UK as part of a post-Brexit trade deal between the two nations. Australian MPs are pressuring Johnson to include ‘generous provisions’ allowing citizens to live and travel freely between Australia and the UK. In a report dubbed A Ripper Deal […]

Former Tory minister Edwina Currie has urged the public to ‘put ourselves in the shoes of ministers’, insisting they have only had a matter of months to prepare for a crisis. Currie appeared on Good Morning Britain to insist that the government’s messaging over coronavirus had been ‘clear’, claiming that the important aspect of the […]