United Kingdom

A nurse who looked after Boris Johnson when he was seriously ill with Covid-19 has resigned, citing the government’s 1% pay offer and its lack of respect for the profession. Jenny McGee, who cared for the prime minister in intensive care at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London, told how she found the prime minister […]

British farming will struggle to compete if zero-tariff trade on lamb and beef goes ahead with a post-Brexit trade deal with Australia, the president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said. A split has emerged within cabinet over the prospect of such an agreement, with environment secretary George Eustice and cabinet office minister Michael […]

Incoming DUP leader Edwin Poots has held talks with the Northern Ireland secretary in Belfast. Poots had requested the face-to-face meeting with Brandon Lewis to discuss Brexit’s contentious Northern Ireland Protocol and a series of other issues. The Lagan Valley MLA has said removing the Protocol, which governs Irish Sea trade, will be his main […]

George Eustice and Liz Truss have reportedly rowed over a proposed trade deal between the UK and Australia. The Financial Times reported environment secretary Eustice, along with Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, were concerned about the potential impact of tariff-free access for Australian farmers on the British agricultural sector. They have concerns the agreement would further […]

Boris Johnson’s administration is recruiting an external adviser to identify new opportunities following Brexit to demonstrate the benefits of the UK’s departure from the European Union. Almost five years on from the Brexit referendum result, the Tory government continues to struggle to demonstrate the tangible benefits of leaving the EU. It has set former Tory leader […]

A legal challenge over the government’s decision to award more than £650 million in contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE) will be heard at the High Court. The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor claim contracts awarded to PestFix, Clandeboye and Ayanda Capital were given unlawfully at the height of the first wave of the coronavirus […]

The UK’s relationship with the European Union after Brexit could remain “bumpy” for some time, the government admitted. Brexit minister Lord Frost said he wanted the situation with Brussels to improve but highlighted ongoing problems with Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit arrangements. The Tory peer told MPs that the ability to diverge from EU regulations would be […]

TIM WALKER on his run-ins with Michael Winner, a thin-skinned character whose reputation has come under fresh scrutiny in the #MeToo era The late Daily Mail gossip columnist Nigel Dempster loved to have a flutter. When I worked as his deputy around the turn of the millennium, he’d be watching the racing on television most afternoons. On […]

Israeli air strikes on schools, homes and media offices are deeply concerning, Downing Street said, as fighting continued in the Middle East. Downing Street said it was seeking answers from Israel about attacks that destroyed the building housing the Associated Press and other media organisations in Gaza. But Boris Johnson’s official spokesman also expressed concern […]

The cabinet secretary has defended the prime minister’s role as the ultimate arbitrator of the ministerial code after critics argued the current system means Boris Johnson is able to “mark his own homework”. It comes as the prime minister’s ministerial standards adviser, Lord Geidt, is in the process of undertaking an investigation into how renovations […]

Keir Starmer is set to discuss his childhood, career in law and leading the Labour Party from his spare room in lockdown during an interview with Piers Morgan. The Labour leader will sit down with the broadcaster for an hour-long episode of Life Stories, due to be filmed next month and expected to air on […]

Parliament’s standards watchdog reportedly believes Boris Johnson’s holiday to Mustique was worth more than double the £15,000 he declared in the Commons register. According to the Daily Mail, Kathryn Stone, the commissioner for standards, said the bill had not been met by Tory donor David Ross as the prime minister has insisted. The revelation will […]

Priti Patel has been accused of a “flagrant breach” of the ministerial code by lobbying a fellow minister in an attempt to secure a healthcare firm access to a personal protective equipment (PPE) deal said to be worth £20 million. Labour has urged cabinet secretary Simon Case to investigate the home secretary over efforts to […]

Greater Manchester mayor and former national Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham says the party would not have lost so many seats in the last election had he defeated Jeremy Corbyn in the battle to become its leader in 2015. The claim came in an interview with the Observer, in which Burnham said he would run […]

Brexit minister Lord Frost has threatened that the UK could soon take drastic action over the post-Brexit agreement on Northern Ireland over concerns about violence and disruption. He urged the European Union to “stop the point-scoring and work with us” to “rapidly” find new solutions to end border checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea […]

The demise of some social distancing measures might be celebrated by some, but for others they will be hard to say goodbye to Have you updated your online shopping basket? Listerine? Right Guard? Extra chewing gum? Are you ready for Huggy Monday and the advance of the personal space invaders? With more guests allowed at […]

On the eve of an American poet’s 80th birthday, the places and people over here broadened his horizons When he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 ‘for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition’, Bob Dylan – who will celebrate his 80th birthday on 24th May – was clear […]

Why communication may have been the least of the problems when the Vikings invaded The Great Heathen Army of the Danes invaded eastern England in 865. Large-scale Viking settlements followed throughout the 9th century and on into the 10th. Many eastern and northern areas of our island came to have a heavily Scandinavian or Scandinavianised […]

How the archipelago’s dialect hung on for centuries, but is now disappearing The Channel Islands lie between 70 and 85 nautical miles off the south coast of England. They are very much closer to the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy in France, which is only about 12 nautical miles away. The islands are not part of the […]

Will Laurence Fox end up with a radio job after the London mayoral elections? BITTER BLOW OF THE WEEK Like many of you, I’m sure, I have spent the last few days trying to recover from what must surely be the most savage disappointment ever to be inflicted upon the progressive caucus in this country. […]

The BBC’s Question Time offers an insight into why Labour lost many elections last week. Peter Kellner’s piece on Labour’s troubles in red wall seats was an interesting read and his insights informative. One only had to watch BBC’s Question Time last night to see some truth regarding Kellner’s points about how Labour has lost […]

Boris Johnson’s former senior aide Dominic Cummings has warned the prime minister against unlocking England on Monday over fears of a surge in the Indian variant of coronavirus. Cummings shared calls from independent scientists on social media who claim that a lifting of lockdown on May 17 could risk a third wave of the pandemic […]

Labour frontbencher Wes Streeting is to step back from politics while he undergoes treatment for kidney cancer. Streeting, 38, said the diagnosis had come as “an enormous shock” but the prognosis was good as the disease had been caught early. In a video message posted on his Twitter feed, the MP for Ilford North said […]

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has said the privatisation of Channel 4 will be considered during a government review of public service broadcasting. Channel 4 was launched in 1982 as a publicly owned, largely commercially self-funded public service broadcaster with a remit to offer “high quality and distinctive programming”. “I have set up a public service […]

One in 10 EU nationals living in the UK are considering leaving before the deadline to get settled status, a new survey has found. The Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements (IMA) found that some 10% of EU citizens are considering to move by June – the legal deadline by which EU nationals […]

Lawyers have revealed five ‘false claims’ made by ministers they say prove the government refused to strike a deal to rescue visa-free touring in the EU. Legal opinion obtained by The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) found ministers misled performers about the reason behind not pursuing a Visa Waiver Agreement (WVA) with Brussels last year. In fact, […]

Northern Ireland’s troubled past and Brexit tensions are likely to dominate discussions between the Irish premier and UK prime minister on Friday. Boris Johnson has been dogged by criticism in recent days over his response to an inquest finding that 10 people killed in shootings involving the Army in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast […]

The sound of us Remainers crying over spilled milk has been replaced by everyone crying over unsold milk It has been another gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain. The dairy industry has been among the biggest losers of Brexit so far, with milk and cream exports to the EU down 96.4% year […]

A senior trade unionist has been suspended by Labour after suggesting home secretary Priti Patel should be deported. Unite’s assistant general secretary Howard Beckett – who is standing for the leadership of the major union – has apologised for the social media message. He sits on Labour’s ruling national executive committee and has now been […]

Efforts to explain recent political developments through the prism of regions misses more pertinent points about England’s electoral map On Crosby beach on the north shore of the River Mersey, Antony Gormley’s sculptures of naked metal men famously stand stoically in the face of the waves of the Irish Sea. Much of this coastline is lined by […]

The Home Office has been urged to give EU citizens in the UK the automatic right to stay as it emerged 305,000 applications are still yet to be processed. EU citizens have a deadline of June 30 to apply for settled status to afford them legal status to carry on living and working in the […]

David Cameron has said he often signs off text messages “love DC”, as he defended his informal approach to lobbying Whitehall. The former prime minister bombarded ministers and Government officials with texts as he controversially lobbied for Greensill Capital. The Conservative politician said it was a “painful day” for him on Thursday as he gave […]