News and Opinion

JAMES BALL says the real reason we’ve made so little progress on Brexit is clear: the hardliners central to the process have made very little effort to understand it. It is perhaps only this week, six months from Brexit, that the reason we’ve made so little progress has become clear. We’d wondered whether the issue […]

European Council president Donald Tusk has used Instagram to troll Theresa May on her Chequers plan. Tusk used used the photo-sharing platform to issue a light-hearted reminder of the EU’s insistence that the UK cannot ‘cherry-pick’ elements from its rulebook. Sharing a photograph of himself helping the prime minister to a cupcake at a buffet […]

Steve Anglesey explores the irony of Liam Fox’s plans for a post-Brexit Spitfire flight. When Liam Fox announced this week that he was backing a post-Brexit around-the-world flight by a restored Spitfire, thoughts inevitably turned to the last politician who decided to weaponise the famous Second World War aircraft. That was Nick Griffin during the […]

ANDREW ADONIS on our Brexit sovereignty in action, and our moral withdrawal from Europe. At the weekend, Michael Gove, self-proclaimed champion of freedom worldwide, was asked by Andrew Marr why the Conservative party did not vote to censure Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, in a key European parliament vote, for his government’s anti-Semitism, attacks on minorities […]

Campaigners calling for a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal will be protesting outside Conservative party conference in Birmingham. The event, organised by the EU in Brum group, will take place around Victoria Square in Birmingham on Sunday 30 September. The march comes exactly two years after Theresa May’s first big Brexit speech as […]

Theresa May has claimed a fresh referendum on the UK leaving the European Union would ‘destroy trust in politicians’ – and everybody hit back with the same observation. May was speaking to the Express when she claimed that a People’s Vote would undo the ‘biggest exercise in democracy in our country’s history.’ She said: ‘When […]

A Treasury minister has suggested there is a possibility of a second EU referendum if Theresa May’s Chequers proposals are rejected by the House of Commons. Mel Stride said that fear of a second poll would bring rebellious Brexiteers into line when MPs come to vote on any deal, while Tory Remainers would back Chequers […]

Absurd as it may sound, could Theresa May be the one to keep Britain in the EU? Guto Harri, former aide to Boris Johnson, says there could be a way If Woody Allen is right that 80% of life is ‘just showing up’, the prime minister should have secured a special award at this week’s […]

Michael Gove’s department has been forced to delete a video promoting UK farming after Brexit – because it featured stock images of farms from EU countries. An image of a farm inspector in a cow shed was taken in Slovenia (Photograph: Defra) – Credit: Archant The mistake was spotted shortly after the Department of Environment, […]

Micheal Heseltine has said Boris Johnson waits to see which way the crowd is running before jumping to the front and yelling ‘follow me’. The Tory grandee predicted Johnson would be the next leader of the Conservatives but outlined his deep reservations about the direction of the party, ‘I suspect if they left him off […]

The man who wrote Article 50 has thrown his support behind a People’s Vote and warned: ‘A political, economic and constitutional crisis is gathering.’ Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, a former head of the diplomatic service, made the comments as the People’s Vote campaign released a roadmap to a second referendum. The report argues the March […]

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable failed to perform under pressure during his keynote conference speech stumbling over the key phrase. Lib Dem 'how to get headlines' playbook:Pre-brief a speech describing Brexit as an 'erotic spasm'.When delivering the speech say instead "exotic spresm".pic.twitter.com/UBJllVr7jB— Tim Johns (@timoncheese) September 18, 2018 Apparently embarrassed by having the phrase […]

A recent Radio Five Live Brexit debate featured the usual slogans – ‘will of the people’, ‘EU superstate’, ‘Project Fear’ – but the most startling statement came from one of the pro-Leave participants regarding a People’s Vote. He said: ‘If you do not deliver what the people want with Brexit, you will see a rise […]

Richard Holledge​ on a new exhibition at the British Museum which takes in thousands of years of defiance. A porcelain teapot prettily decorated in blue and picked out with gold with red flowers. What can that have to do with the clamour of protest? Look under the spout. There’s a discreet number 45, and it […]

Work and pensions secretary Esther McVey had to be corrected at a cabinet meeting after arguing talks over parts of Britain’s EU withdrawal agreement should be concluded once it had actually left, it has been claimed. The Times has reported that three sources had said that McVey had been corrected by the prime minister after […]

Outspoken Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen was left silenced by a radio host in a cringe-inducing interview about the Irish border. Bridgen was asked by RTE Radio 1 host Audrey Carville for more details about his post-Brexit plans for Ireland when he quickly became stuck. Carville’s first specific instance was about a Polish worker living in the […]

In 1844 Strauss Senior, the first pop idol, soon found himself eclipsed by something rawer, says SOPHIA DEBOICK. Johann Strauss, the Elder. Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images. – Credit: Getty Images The year 1844 was one of mixed fortunes for musical stars both old and new, as the second wave of Romantic composers began to […]

Crossover Day – when the Leave majority will disappear, even if not a single voter changes their mind about Brexit – will now be in January, according to a sensational YouGov poll. Peter Kellner, the former president of the polling firm, said the Leave majority was now declining by 1,350 a day, due solely to […]

Neil Fredrik Jensen on Saint-Étienne, French football’s nearly men, who came within a whisker of European glory – and inspired a pop group. Before Paris Saint-Germain bought their way into the elite, French club football had only made an occasional impact on the big stage, despite the country’s pivotal role in the creation of competitions […]

Leading French journalist Marion Van Renterghem meets Tony Blair, one of Remain’s Don Quixotes suddenly realising their task might not be as futile as it first seemed. From my side of the Channel, I initially saw you Remainers as some tribe of Don Quixotes, at war with windmills, assigning yourselves a quite impossible mission: to […]

With superstar sculptor Anish Kapoor’s work, setting is everything – as FLORENCE HALLETT finds when she visits an island exhibition on a Norwegian fjord. Sky Mirror, 2018. Photo: Istvan Virag / Getty Images. – Credit: Archant On the little island of Jeløy, the vast Oslo fjord is never far from view, lush countryside and neatly […]

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable is set to accuse Theresa May of putting ‘the interests of the country second to the whims of the extremists in her party’. Brexit will be at the heart of his keynote Lib Dem conference speech in Brighton. Sir Vince will also demand May shows ‘true leadership’ by accepting […]

A no-deal Brexit will make it harder for police to protect UK citizens as forces fall back on “slower, more bureaucratic” systems, one of the country’s most senior officers has warned. Sara Thornton, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, spoke as plans were unveiled for a new unit that will oversee how forces use […]

A no-deal Brexit would cost car manufacturer Honda tens of millions of pounds, the company’s European boss has warned. But Ian Howells, the senior vice-president of Honda Europe, said the company remained “right behind” its production facility in Swindon and was not considering moving the plant out of the UK after Brexit. The Japanese company […]

Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has been accused of having “more faces than a town clock” after executing a screeching U-turn on the effects of a no-deal Brexit. Hunt – who has previously said Britain would regret a no-deal Brexit ‘for generations to come’ – claimed today that it would flourish with or without an agreement […]

A leading member of the Scottish cabinet has claimed Westminster is “incapable” of working in Scotland’s interests as he warned of the growing risk the UK will be forced into a “chaotic, blind Brexit”. Scottish constitution secretary Mike Russell accused prime minister Theresa May of “misleading” voters on the prospects for her Chequers plan, saying […]

Theresa May must consider alternatives to her Chequers plan that keep Britain aligned to Brussels to avoid a “chaotic and damaging” no-deal Brexit if it is rejected, MPs have warned. The government should look again at either a customs union or European Economic Area (EEA) membership as a fallback to avoid leaving the EU without […]

The senior civil servant running Northern Ireland’s public services since Stormont collapsed has expressed his deep concern for the region if there is no Brexit deal. David Sterling, the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, told an event in Brussels that many local firms might find it “impossible” to continue to trade normally if […]

MICK O’HARE tells the story of perhaps the most important photograph ever taken. Bill Anders, centre. Photo: Getty Images. – Credit: ullstein bild via Getty Images Fifty years ago, as the first crewed spacecraft to circumnavigate the Moon was emerging from the dark side, the astronauts on board were looking out of the window. An […]

Downing Street has slapped down Boris Johnson after he warned that Britain was heading for a “spectacular political car-crash” if the government stuck to Theresa May’s plans for Brexit. The former foreign secretary’s warning came as May gave one of her most positive forecasts yet for Britain’s future after Brexit, telling the BBC: “I believe […]

Leaving the EU without a Brexit deal would inflict “substantial costs” on the UK economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. In the latest of its regular assessments of the state of Britain’s finances, the IMF said that all likely Brexit scenarios would “entail costs for the UK economy”, but that a disorderly departure […]

Jaguar Land Rover has announced that more than 3,000 staff will move to a three-day week at its Castle Bromwich plant in the West Midlands, just hours after a Tory Brexiteer accused its boss of “making it up” when warning that a Hard Brexit would wipe out profits and cost tens of thousands of jobs […]