News and Opinion

Henry Bolton has insisted he will not quit as UKIP leader, and warned the party ‘is probably over’ if he is forced out as he prepares to face down critics at a meeting of its ruling body. The former Army officer has faced a volley of calls to resign since his now former girlfriend was […]

Michael White looks at the flip-flopping Nigel Farage as the noose tightens on leave options. Wolves have been seen again in northern Belgium, wild ones, whose numbers are rising across Europe. But where are Nigel Farage and Henry Bolton, his latest stand-in as leader of UKIP, when you need them to denounce something? Fooling about, […]

How much more can Donald Trump say before the US labels him a racist? MITCH BENN investigates So, the American people, the western media and the human race in general have spent the last few days reeling from the shock revelation that the man who opened his Presidential run by announcing that ‘Mexicans are rapists’; […]

James Ball gives a quick dummies guide to trade within Brexit, as it appears that there are plenty of dummies who need it. In two months time, the UK and the EU will begin negotiating their future trading relationship, and the excitement seems to be initiating a whole new wave of Brexit falsehoods, from the […]

Despite the damage caused by Brexit, businesses still need convinving on reasons to hold another vote, says Angela Jameson. Peter Stringfellow is one of only a few business people who have openly called for a second referendum. Not many from the City or the business community are rushing to follow the well-known, but somewhat unconventional, […]

With Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson conceding Brexit is no longer inevitable, politics are catching up with reality, says Andrew Adonis, and we need allies. This week, Emmanuel Macron met our Prime Minister for a tour of Sandhurst and a discussion about the future of UK-French military co-operation. Our elite military academy – genuinely the […]

It’s that time of the week again – download the podcast or listen now here. This week Richard discusses the potential dangers of a second referendum with Editor Matt Kelly in the wake of Nigel Farage’s bombshell comments. Also Geri concludes that the course of true love never does run smooth as the team delve […]

Ahead of the French president’s UK visit for an Anglo-French summit Emmanuel Macron called for Britain to reconsider Brexit. Just hours before he arrived in the country Mr Macron’s aide said that France would ‘look with kindness’ if Britain decided to reverse its decision to exit the European Union. Previously the French president called Brexit […]

Steve Anglesey ​picks out the losers and losers from another week on Planet Brexit – where there are no winners. Andy Pemberton News that Donald Trump won’t be visiting the UK after all has caused heartbreak in the Tendring peninsula, where former UKIP councillor Andy Pemberton was leading a one-man bid to lure the deranged […]

Bosses of Facebook in the UK have told a parliamentary inquiry into ‘fake news’ that it will expand its investigation into whether or not Russia tried to influence the Brexit vote using social media. In a letter to Damian Collins, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee, Facebook’s head of policy in […]

Nearly 50 Labour MPs backed calls for the UK to stay in the single market and customs union after Brexit last night. While the party’s frontbench abstained on the amendment, 48 Labour MPs voted for the proposals tabled by the SNP. They were joined by one Conservative MP, Europhile former chancellor Ken Clarke. Amendment 59, […]

Irish Taoiseach’s Leo Varadkar has hit back at Nigel Farage by claiming that it would not be undemocratic to hold another Brexit referendum. After addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Varadkar was challenged by the former Ukip leader who accused him of trying to overturn the UK’s split from Europe. The Taoiseach declined to […]

A second referendum? It’s time to stop looking backwards and start making demands of the people who caused this problem in the first place, says MATT KELLY Be careful what you wish for. And be doubly careful if you ever find yourself nodding along with Nigel Farage, no matter how tempting it might be. There’s […]

The week’s big stories, including Donald Trump heading to Davos, Klingon sensitivity and France’s daftest crook It seems the purge has begun after Momentum seized the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee this week. Momentum founder Jon Lansman as well as Yasmine Dar and Rachel Garnham – also backed by the fanatical, Corbyn movement – have […]

British holidaymakers could have to provide their criminal record, immigration history and biometric data to travel in Europe after Brexit, peers have heard. Baroness Ludford warned that after the UK leaves the European Union those wishing to head to the continent may face “significant” fees and four-day waits for approval to travel. The Liberal Democrats’ […]

Previous attempts to explain the rise of Donald Trump have come up with a familiar narrative. But, says ALEXIS PAPAZOGLOU, there is another way to understand it It’s almost a year since Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the USA and, whatever you think of him, his presidency is an historic event that […]

Brexit will “not be sustainable” if it does not work for young people, Justine Greening has said in her first remarks after being forced out of Theresa May’s cabinet. The former education secretary said that future generations of MPs could seek to “improve or undo” what the the current parliament implements. The intervention came just […]

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has urged Europe to stick together to protect and spread its values. Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg – the first leader to speak in the debate on the European Union’s future – Mr Varadkar warned that guarantees secured in the Brexit talks to protect the Irish border cannot be reneged […]

Jean-Claude Juncker has said he would be “happy” to help Britain rejoin the European Union if it wants to after Brexit. The European Commission president said the UK could apply to rejoin under Article 49 of the Lisbon Treaty even after it leaves the EU in March 2019 – if the government or British people […]

Tony Blair is Brexit’s most eloquent critic, but does his controversial legacy prevent him making a full impact? ANTHONY CLAVANE went to his former constituency – a Leave stronghold – to find out Prime Minister Tony Blair leaves Trimdon Labour Club in his Sedgefield constituency today after announcing the date of his departure as Prime […]

A group of UK citizens who live in the Netherlands have gone to a Dutch court in a bid to retain their EU citizenship rights post-Brexit. In a case that could have far-reaching consequences for around one million Britons currently living in European Union countries outside the UK, lawyer Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm launched summary proceedings […]

It is an “illusion” to think key Brexit legislation will have an “untroubled passage” through the House of Lords, a Tory former chancellor has said. Ken Clarke said he hoped the Lords would make an “enormous” number of changes to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill when it goes to the other chamber. He criticised the […]

Failure to incorporate the EU charter of fundamental rights into UK law after Brexit sends out “a really strange message” about the attitude of the Conservative Party, a senior Tory has said. Former attorney general Dominic Grieve said people now viewed things like LGBT rights “as being rights of a fundamental character”. He also accused […]

The House of Lords could face the prospect of fundamental reform if peers attempt to hamper Brexit, prominent Tory hardliner Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned. The upper chamber would be left looking “ridiculous” if peers tried to push for a second referendum, he claimed. The Hard Brexiteer, who has been tipped as a potential Conservative leader, […]

The anti-Brexit cause may be facing a daunting task, says Stefan Stern, but a clear course to stop this madness still lies ahead It was on, and then it was off: no deal for the non-appointed No Deal minister. No deal is still better than a bad deal, you understand, it’s just that there won’t […]

European Council president Donald Tusk has demanded more clarity from prime minister Theresa May over her plans for Brexit – and again held open the possibility of the UK changing its mind. Addressing MEPs in Strasbourg, Mr Tusk said: “If the UK government sticks to its decision to leave, Brexit will become a reality – […]

Theresa May has been accused of lying to the British people by a senior ally of German chancellor Angela Merkel over the plan to restore dark blue British passports after Brexit. German MEP Manfred Weber mocked the focus on changing the colour of the travel document and pointed out that it would have been possible […]

Boris Johnson has said the Brexit campaign’s claim of an extra £350m a week to spend on the NHS was an underestimate – but his working out shows why the original figure was a lie. The foreign secretary claimed the official Vote Leave campaign could have used a higher figure as the UK’s gross contribution […]

The New European’s columnist JAMES BALL argues that we need to start working out who to blame when Brexit doesn’t go to plan Remote and alien as the possibility may seem, but there is at least a theoretical chance that Brexit won’t go to plan and the UK won’t have a comprehensive, better-than-EU-membership, new deal […]

Boris Johnson’s comment that the Leave campaign under-estimated when it claimed Brexit would allow an extra £350m to be spent on the NHS weekly has been branded “ridiculous”. Leading health expert Professor Sir Michael Marmot said the Brexit campaign’s highly controversial claim has already been confirmed “a lie”. The academic also said the history books […]

MITCH BENN on the real problem with Toby Young’s unsuitability for the Office for Students Disclaimer no. 1: I have never met Toby Young. Disclaimer no. 2: I’m not even that up to speed on what Toby Young has been saying or doing recently as he blocked me on Twitter some years ago. I couldn’t […]

BONNIE GREER gives her diagnosis of Donald J. Trump The question of whether a mentally unfit leader is what is needed in stressful times has once again become the topic of debate. The publication of Fire and Fury, a look inside the campaign of Donald Trump, paints not just a picture of an amateur operation […]