News and Opinion

Labour is pressing the housing minister, Robert Jenrick, to explain his involvement in granting a £1 billion property deal to an influential Tory donor. The cabinet minster approved a planning decision for a 1,500-home build by property developer Richard Desmond, a wealthy Tory donor who handed over £12,000 to the party weeks after his plans […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner have been photographed kneeling in solidarity with anti-racism protesters, as a Downing Street spokesperson admitted cabinet ignored a silence organised by MPs. Posting the image on Twitter, Sir Keir wrote: ‘We kneel with all those opposing anti-Black racism. #BlackLivesMatter.’ The mark of solidarity with the […]

Theresa May’s former chief of staff has warned that his party is not taking the new leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, seriously enough. Gavin Barwell, now a Tory peer in the House of Lords, was responding to claims that the media were ‘overhyping’ Labour’s new leader, and that he has ‘massive problems with widespread […]

A government scientific adviser has said mass job losses and rising unemployment due to coronavirus, as well as concerns about racial and economic inequality, could result in riots in the summer. Professor Clifford Stott, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) sub-committee on behaviour, said there is a risk of disorder on […]

Tory MPs are starting to turn on the prime minister over the latest phase of the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, following a dip in the polls for their leader. The BBC’s Newsnight reports that there is discontent on the backbenches of the prime minister’s party for failing to reopen English schools, which a […]

Pushed to list Donald Trump’s good qualities, Boris Johnson could only confirm that he is the president of the USA First an apology. Last week’s PMQs review may have led the readership to believe that prime minister’s questions was now a water cooler must-watch – not that we’re ever likely to see water coolers again […]

Boris Johnson has been accused of lying over claims he sought Labour’s help to build a national taskforce aimed at reopening schools during Prime Minister’s Questions. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has challenged the allegations saying he was never consulted on the idea. Referring to a letter he sent to the prime minster over Labour’s […]

The independent press standards organisation (IPSO) will not investigate an article in the Spectator written by Dominic Cummings’ wife, which appears to contradict his own account of what happened when he contracted coronavirus. IPSO says it received a ‘number of complaints’ about Mary Wakefield’s column which people felt contradicted the Downing Street adviser’s statement to […]

Footage of Tory MPs laughing at a joke about Scottish slaves in the House of Commons has resurfaced and sparked a backlash, hours after Boris Johnson claimed that Britain was ‘not a racist country’. Twitter users were ‘appalled’ and ‘disgusted’ after a video of Tory MP Lucy Frazer joking that Scots be shipped to offshore […]

A radio presenter has questioned the ‘believability’ of Boris Johnson’s pre-recorded Black Lives Matter video message, accusing the prime minister of having a ‘track record’ of using racist language. LBC presenter James O’Brien said he doubted the prime minister truly understood the plight of minority communities taking part in Black Lives Matter protests. Johnson, who […]

Doctors and campaigners have launched a High Court challenge against the government over its refusal to hold an urgent public inquiry into PPE shortages. A claim for judicial review has been lodged with the court by the Doctors’ Association UK, Hourglass – a charity which works to prevent abuse and neglect of older people – […]

A cabinet minister has claimed that negotiations over the UK’s future relationship with Europe after Brexit can not go on ‘forever’. Cabinet Office minister Penny Mordaunt told parliament that a deal must be reached soon. ‘We cannot keep negotiating forever, we have to allow our businesses, our farmers, our citizens time to implement the decisions […]

Keir Starmer’s approval ratings has now jumped well ahead of Boris Johnson’s after support for the prime minister plummeted. Almost half (48%) of the public has a favourable view on the leader of the opposition – according to new YouGov polling – compared to 43% that hold the same view of Boris Johnson. That is […]

A Tory councillor in Bristol has described slave trader Edward Colston a ‘hero’ and the toppling of the statue in his city as a ‘frenzied thug violence’. Councillor Richard Eddy resigned as deputy leader of Bristol council for using a golliwog as a mascot. Photograph: Twitter. – Credit: Archant Cllr Richard Eddy said that he […]

Former Brexit secretary wants MPs to be tested daily for coronavirus to put an end to social distancing measures in the House of Commons. Davis was one of the MPs to criticise the procedures brought in by Jacob Rees-Mogg and the government to keep the Commons running during the pandemic. He suggested that if Vienna […]

A Black Lives Matter supporter has told Nigel Farage he is ‘struggling to be relevant’ as he appeared on Good Morning Britain to criticise the toppling of a slave trader’s statue. Lawyer and woman’s rights activist Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu and historian Professor Kate Williams took on the Brexit Party leader in debating the Black Lives […]

Health minister Helen Whately was forced to backtrack on her suggestion that deaths in care homes from coronavirus was the fault of scientists in a live television interview. More than 12,000 people have died from care homes so far – almost 30% of the entire death toll for coronavirus in the UK. Pressed by Kay […]

A Labour politician has accused Priti Patel of using her Asian heritage to ‘silence’ a BAME colleague over racism claims. https://twitter.com/NadiaWhittomeMP/status/1270027117619707905 Nadia Whittome said she was ‘sickened’ by the home secretary’s response to questions by Labour MP Florence Eshalomi over what the government was doing to tackle racial inequality in the UK. Eshalomi asked the […]

The Brexit Party has taken almost £2 million worth of donations in the first quarter of 2020 – despite failing to gain a single seat at the general election weeks before. Nigel Farage’s political organisation reported accepting monies worth £1.95 million between January and the end of March, despite celebrating Brexit getting ‘done’ in January. […]

A majority of Boris Johnson’s cabinet support reducing the two-metre social distancing rule – despite government scientists ruling against the move. The prime minister is said to be pushing for the restriction to be dropped after the Financial Times reports a senior minister as claiming a ‘majority of the cabinet is definitely more inclined not […]

The pandemic has highlighted the Russian president’s many weaknesses, says PAUL KNOTT. Not for the first time, speculation is growing about the future of Russian president Vladimir Putin. While he has always survived previous crises and his grip on power is tight, the end of his rule could come sooner than many observers anticipate. Whatever […]

The EU is holding big online firms to account – but Brexit means the new legislation will not become law in the UK. MARY HONEYBALL explains how we will be the losers because of it. As the date for requesting an extension to the Brexit deadline draws closer, the UK government continues to strut forth […]

Covid is getting the headlines, but a trade agreement with the US is fast taking shape. And it does not look like a good deal, says FRANCIS BECKETT. Britain is being fattened up for a trade deal with Donald Trump designed to strengthen his chances of re-election in November. The latest move is the Agriculture […]

Home secretary Priti Patel has denied that the government policy of no recourse to public funds is ‘racially discriminate’. Calling for the policy to be suspended as a step towards tackling inequalities facing people from BAME communities, the SNP’s home affairs spokesperson Joanna Cherry said: ‘The Black Lives Matter movement and Public Health England’s Covid-19 […]

Boris Johnson does not believe that the UK is a racist county, his spokesperson has claimed, after a number of anti-racism protests took place in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Labour’s shadow justice secretary David Lammy has said that the government should acknowledge ‘racism and prejudice exist in the United Kingdom as well as […]

Labour leader Keir Starmer has told a pro-EU campaigner that the Brexit debate is ‘over’ and that the political focus must now be on ensuring the government gets a good deal with the EU. Starmer told the radio caller: ‘It’s no secret that I voted for Remain and campaigned for Remain. But we have left […]

British people have ranked Boris Johnson’s government the worst in the world for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. New polling by YouGov asked citizens from countries across the world how they think their government has faired. People polled included the UK, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Mexico, America, Spain and France. And whilst many countries […]

The Tories have readmitted a councillor who was suspended last year for internet posts that contained both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Ryan Houghton, an Aberdeen councillor, was suspended last year from the Conservative Party after appearing to suggest the holocaust and the murder of six millions Jews had been ‘fabricated’. Writing on an internet forum back […]

A Liberal Democrat leadership candidate has proposed a progressive alliance ‘from day one’ ready for the next general election. Wera Hobhouse said that the Lib Dems needed to be having active conversations over a progressive alliance sooner rather than later – with Hobhouse vowing to work with the Greens and Labour from the start if […]

The internet reacted with some fury at a Brexiteer’s suggestion that Dominic Cummings could be awarded with an honour. Christopher Snowdon, a research fellow at the right-wing think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, provoked reaction by claiming that he expected Cummings to receive an honour in the future. Last month a national newspaper reported […]

A former Brexit Party MEP has claimed her party was ‘the most diverse’ in the European Parliament – but a closer look at a variety of contexts suggests otherwise. The claims came from Belinda de Lucy, as part of a tweet complaining that the media ‘accused’ the Brexit Party of racism on a regular basis. […]

New Zealand has eradicated the coronavirus from its shores after health officials reported on Monday that the final person known to have been infected had recovered. The news swiftly led to the country’s government announcing all forms of public events can again take place without limitations or social distancing guidelines. It has been 17 days […]